


Book 17 - Location Shoot

by GailDunn2



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adult Content, Drama, F/M, References to Supernatural (TV), Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 83,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23288899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GailDunn2/pseuds/GailDunn2
Summary: The quests for the Tablets continue. Some relationships are examined more closely, some bonds are strengthened, and other acquaintances are made which will have repercussions in the future. More mysteries lay in store for the Angels, while Lucifer decides on a course of action to achieve his goal.





	1. Hand To God

BOOK II - ITALIAN WEDDING

Cas and Gail followed the waiter downstairs to the basement. "This is our wine cellar," the man told them proudly. "Feel free to pick out whatever vintage you like." 

Cas had used the "two-finger system" on the man to persuade him to bring them downstairs so that they could look around. But now he frowned. "This is the basement, you say?" he asked the server. 

"Yes, sir," the man said with a puzzled expression. "This was where you said you wanted to go." 

"No, we were actually looking for the sub-basement," Cas responded. 

The server was really confused now. "Sub-basement?" he repeated. "I know of no such place." 

"You're very tired," Cas told him, and he touched his hand to the server's forehead. He caught the man as he slumped to the floor, unconscious, and lowered him gently the rest of the way. 

"Let's look around," Cas said to Gail. "There has to be a false door, or a hidden panel, or something." 

They split up and started searching the perimeter of the room. Gail was feeling her way along the walls, looking for anything unusual. She was so absorbed in her search that she didn't look down to see the small area rug in the corner of the room. She tripped on it when she got there, and she fell to the floor. "Oww!" she exclaimed. The floor was stone, and the fall hurt her knees. 

Cas came rushing over. "What happened?" he asked her. 

Gail made a face. "Nothing. Just me, being clumsy." 

Cas helped her to her feet and they looked down at the floor where the rug she'd tripped on had been. There was a wooden trap door there. Cas looked at her and smiled. 

"See, that was my brilliant plan all along," Gail said innocently. 

Cas pulled on the handle of the door, and it creaked open. Gail grabbed her blade and spoke the phrase, shining the light into the hole. 

"May I have your blade, Gail?" Cas asked her. "I'll use the light to go down there first, and make sure it's safe." 

She gave it to him, and he lowered himself through the trap door. It was a short drop to the ground, and he shone the light around him immediately. There didn't seem to be any inherent danger. He was standing in a tunnel that looked old enough to have been there for centuries. The walls were dirt, but the ground was cobblestone, almost as if this place had existed well before the present time. It probably had, Cas thought. He knew of many locations and many civilizations where buildings had been built on top of ancient streets and passageways. Further down the tunnel, he could see that there were torches hung on the walls. That excited him. If someone had taken the trouble to provide illumination, there must be something here to see. Something like a Heaven Tablet, perhaps? 

"It's all right for you to come down, Gail. Here, let me help you," Cas said. He put her blade down on the ground. She lowered herself into the trap door and he caught her around the waist, helping her the rest of the way down. 

"Thanks, sweetie," she said, kissing him on the cheek. Then she bent down to pick up her blade and started to walk down the tunnel towards where the first torch was. 

"Wait," Cas said. He touched her arm, then withdrew his own blade and walked ahead of her. "Just because we see no danger doesn't mean there isn't any," he said to her. 

As soon as Cas stepped on the stone before the first torch, the torch automatically came alight. "Well, what do you know?" he said softly, bemused. "And I'd been about to search my pockets for matches." He took the torch from its wall sconce, and Gail spoke the Enochian word to turn the light off on her blade. 

They started to walk down the hall and after a few moments, Cas could just make out something at the far end of the corridor. He held the torch higher. Could it be this easy? 

"There's a niche in the wall at the end of the corridor," he told Gail with quiet excitement. "And it holds a Tablet." 

Gail was excited, too. She hurried up to where he stood. His eyes were sharper than hers and they only had the torchlight, but she was sure she could see it, too. 

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get it!" she said, moving forward. He went to grab her arm and missed. "Wait, Gail! There may be - " he started to say. 

Gail took one more step, and a steel gate came crashing down in front of the niche holding the Tablet. The noise startled them both, and Cas leaped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Their hearts were both beating fast, but after a moment, nothing further happened. 

Gail took a deep breath. After Egypt, she'd been afraid that something had been about to come out and attack them. And while that could certainly still happen, it seemed that all that did happen was that the Tablet was behind steel bars now. 

She gave Cas a squeeze to show her appreciation for his effort to protect her, and then she stepped back from him. "Now what?" she asked him. 

Cas was frowning, and he squinted as he looked down the corridor. He held the torch out as he examined the cobblestones which led towards the niche where the Tablet was. "The stones leading up to the Tablet have different hues, on each side of the corridor," he said to Gail. "See?" 

She actually could see it, now that he'd pointed it out. "Maybe we're supposed to play Dance Dance Fever," she quipped. Cas looked at her, puzzled. "It's an arcade game where they play music, and you have to step on the corresponding tiles to dance to the song," she tried to explain. "It's kind of hard to explain in words. You'd have to see it to really get it," she added weakly. 

But Cas said, "No, I think I understand." He smiled faintly. "I don't think we'll have to dance our way down the corridor, but I do think that we may have to quote our way down there." 

Now it was Gail's turn to be puzzled. "What are you talking about, Cas?" 

He looked at her. "While you were in the shower, I did some research to find out who may have lived here before. I thought the information might prove significant. I couldn't find any definitive proof, of course, but rumour has it that this building used to be the site of the home of the Latin poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus. He was a pioneer in his field, often called one of the "new" or "modern" poets. His works focused mainly on love and personal matters, rather than the epic feats of heroes and gods, which were the style at the time." 

"That's really interesting, Cas," Gail said sincerely. "So do you think if we're able to quote poetry, we may be able to get the gate in front of the Tablet to open?" 

"As long as we step on the correct colour of cobblestones while we're doing it. Sort of like your Dance Dance game. Catullus was known to have a whimsical side, too," Cas responded. "Here, let's try it. I'll quote some love poetry, and we'll see what happens." 

Cas thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and he looked into Gail's eyes as he said, "I often wonder why/Someone as flawed as I/Deserves to be as happy as you make me./Now I know, no matter what the question/Love is the answer./It's written on Angel's wings." 

Gail smiled. "That's beautiful, Cas." 

They looked down at the floor, and two cobblestones on opposite sides of the corridor lit up. Cas stepped on one, and Gail advanced to the other. 

"So far, so good," Cas said to her, and suddenly, the steel bars in front of the Tablet rose an inch or so. The Angels smiled at each other. 

"You were right," Gail said softly. "Why does that not surprise me?" 

Cas shrugged modestly. "I've had years and years of experience with this sort of thing," he told her. "Every mission has its tests, be they physical, or intellectual. Once you determine what they are, you just have to meet the challenge." 

"I don't think I tell you often enough how impressed I am by your intellect," Gail said, and she took a couple of steps towards him, intending to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

But as soon as she stepped off her cobblestone, the torches on the wall just in front of them ignited, and flames shot across the corridor right in front of them. Gail hurried back to the stone she'd been standing on. 

"Wow, they take their arcade games seriously here," she quipped nervously. "I'm sorry, Cas. I won't do that again." 

He nodded, then took a breath and quoted, "I will kiss you like an Angel/Cradled in my wings/I will take you up to Heaven/Show you precious things./I could never live one day without your love." 

The cobblestones lit up and they advanced, and then the steel bars rose some more. 

"I know I can't move towards you right now, but you have to promise me something," Gail said. "You have to promise me you'll quote some of this stuff to me at our wedding. That's some of the most beautiful poetry I've ever heard." 

He smiled in her direction. "I promise." Then he said, "I think it's your turn. I would love to hear you quote something to me." 

She smiled ruefully. "And I would love to be able to quote something to you. But love poems aren't exactly my forte, Cas. I know a smattering of Shakespeare and Bible quotes, but the only stuff I know that would even come close to what you've been doing here is lyrics from love songs." 

"Well, that would be love poetry, wouldn't it?" he said. 

She thought about that. "Not only are you smart, but you're very logical," Gail complimented him, and he smiled. She continued, "And it's kind of funny. I first heard this song a couple of years before we met, and the lyrics just spoke to me, and they've stuck in my head all this time. And now I know why." She really wished that she could reach out far enough to hold his hand. But she could feel his gaze on her from across the corridor, and that would have to be enough for now. 

Gail quoted, "In my soul I will never be lonely/For there will be an Angel by my side./Never dreamed I'd find someone like you/Who'd be there, when days were at their darkest/Watching over everything I do." 

In a moment, they were able to advance, and the steel bars rose again. Gail breathed a sigh of relief. 

"There is something to be said for song lyrics," Cas said quietly. "Some of them can be just as lovely as a sonnet." 

Gail smiled. Yes, they could. On the other hand, some of the lyrics to some modern urban songs would probably cause this place to explode. She shook her head, smiling to herself. She'd better focus. 

"I have another one," she told Cas. "I just remembered it." 

His smile widened. He loved it when he was able to quote words of love to her, and he really loved it when she quoted them to him. 

"I really like this one," Gail said softly. She cleared her throat. "How was I to know an Angel would come calling for me/How was I to know that Heaven was so close/I can feel your love all around me./Heaven sent an Angel into my life./It's not enough to say I think of you/It's not enough to say we love./How I prayed that you would come/And melt me with your touch." 

The cobblestones lit up, but Cas remained standing where he was for a moment. He was absolutely floored. "That may be the most beautiful poem I have heard in my whole life," he told her. "How I wish I could walk over to where you are right now." 

"I wish you could, too, but maybe right now we should just worry about advancing to the right stones," Gail said nervously. She stepped up to hers, and Cas quickly stepped up to his. The steel bars that were in front of the niche that held the Tablet had lifted most of the way now, and it looked like they had two more stones to traverse before they could get to the Tablet. 

"We're so close, but I can't think of any more," Gail said to Cas. 

"I can," he said quickly. "I don't know where this feeling comes from/Surely it was meant to be/For I have known you only in my dreams./I was born to give my love to you." 

One more cobblestone each, and they were extremely close to the niche now. Gail smiled sideways at Cas. "I know it's a lot to ask, but do you have one more in you?" she asked him. 

"I also heard a song a short while before I met you which resonated with me," Cas told her. "I'm glad I thought of it now, because it seems very appropriate at this moment." He swallowed the lump in his throat and quoted, "Wherever it may take me/I know that life won't break me/When I come to call she won't forsake me/When I'm feeling weak/I look above/And I know I'll always be blessed with love/And as the feeling grows/She breathes flesh to my bones/And when love is dead/I'm loving Angels instead." 

The instant Cas finished his quote, the metal bars rose all the way to the ceiling and all of the tiles behind them lit up, illuminating the corridor. He turned to Gail. She took a tentative step towards him, then another, and when nothing happened, she rushed the rest of the way. 

She squeezed his arm, smiling up at him. "You and I have a date later to make out for about six hours, but I guess we'd better get this pesky Tablet first." 

Cas laughed, and he hugged her to him for a moment. Then he reached into his inside jacket pocket and took out the collapsible case that Dean had given him. He placed it on the floor, lifted the stone Tablet from its niche, and slid it carefully into the case. Then he picked the case up by its handle and took Gail's hand with his free hand. 

"Just a minute," she said, and his brow furrowed. "Did you pay for our wine?" she quipped, and Cas smiled again. Then he winked them out of there. 

"It was that easy?" Sam asked them. He took the case from Cas and slid the Tablet carefully into the safe next to the Earth Tablet. "You only had to quote a few love poems, and then you were able to just take the Tablet?" 

"I know, I couldn't believe it, either," Gail said, smiling at Cas. 

"Damn Angels," Dean groused. "We get snakes, scorpions, and guys with machine guns, and they get love poetry. That must have been really hard on you, Cas," he said sarcastically. 

"Oh, it was," Cas said, his lips twitching furiously. "It was very difficult for us to have to quote love poems to each other and not be able to kiss or to hold hands while we were doing it." 

Gail burst out laughing, and Dean gave them both a withering look. "Damn Angels," he said again, and stalked out of the room. 

Barry and Tommy had been having coffee at the library table, and Gail plunked down next to Barry now. "How are you guys doing?" she asked him. 

"Actually, pretty good, Gail," Barry told her. "Your friends have made us feel very welcome. And Frank and Jody have been so generous, letting us spend time with Robbie. Originally, we were prepared to move out and get a place of our own as soon as you all got back from Egypt, but Sam and Dean insisted that we stay here for a while longer." 

"We've been using your room, but now that you're back, do you want us to move out of it?" Tommy asked them. 

"That depends; were you able to find any houses for us?" Cas asked them. 

Barry smiled. "It just so happens I found a gorgeous place, not too far from here, and it fills your description. It's got four bedrooms, but it's everything you said you wanted. I called the retailer yesterday, and he said you can stop by any time to see it." 

Gail took Cas's hand. "That's fantastic! Let's go right now!" she enthused. 

The Angels winked Barry and Tommy over there, and Barry said, "The retailer said the key is in the mailbox, and we can just let ourselves in." 

Sure enough, they key was there, and the four of them entered the house to have a look around. 

Gail was excited. Except for the extra bedroom, it was exactly what she'd had in mind. It was a modest enough house, but it was clean and cozy-looking. There was a fireplace in the living room, a back yard, and it looked like there would be plenty of room for a dining room table, a few chairs and a couch in the living room, and a Christmas tree in the corner. 

"This is perfect, Cas," she said. "What do you think?" 

He just stood there, saying nothing. She was just about to nudge him and make a teasing remark when she realized: he was pale, and his hands were trembling. 

"Guys, can you excuse us for a minute?" Gail said to Barry and Tommy. She grabbed Cas by the hand and pulled him outside. 

"What's the matter, sweetie?" she said. 

Cas was frowning. He took both of her hands in his. "I'm afraid, Gail," he said to her. "How can I know that this is the right thing to do? What makes this different from the last time I got a house for us? Maybe it's selfish for us to spend that kind of money on our own comfort." 

"What was your first thought when you saw this house, Cas?" Gail asked him quietly. "Your very first thought. Don't think about it first; just answer." 

"My very first thought was that you looked so happy when you saw it," he replied. "And that I would be so happy to see you finally have a real home, a place that you and I can call our own." 

"I don't think that's selfish, Cas," she said, touching his face. "Everyone is entitled to have a place that they can call home. And there's so much in our lives that's different now. You're different, and so am I. WE'RE different, Cas. Do you want to know what my first thought was when I saw this place?" 

He nodded. "Yes, of course I do." 

"My first thought was that we could finally have that happy family Christmas here," she replied. "You'll help me put up a tree in the corner, we'll buy presents for everyone, and I'll research how to cook a turkey on the Internet. Better still, I'll see if Barry can help me. I'll bet you if anyone knows how to do it, it's him. Cas, we could actually, finally do it. We could have the best, happiest Christmas ever." 

Suddenly, she burst into tears, and Cas looked stricken. "They're happy tears, Cas," she told him. He put his arms around her, crying a few silent tears himself. 

After the Angels composed themselves, they walked back into the house. "We'll take it," Gail said, smiling. "Can you guys do us another huge favour?" 

"Name it," Barry said. 

Gail looked at Cas, who nodded in encouragement. Whatever she wanted was fine by him. 

"We have a wedding to plan," she said. "If I give you the money, do you think that you could buy this house and furnish it for us? I'm talking the whole nine yards: beds, couches, TVs, dishes, et cetera, et cetera." 

"Are you sure you guys trust me to do all of that for you?" Barry said incredulously. 

"Of course we do," Cas said to him. "You and Tommy are two of our closest friends." 

"Yeah, and if we asked Sam and Dean to do it, all there would be here was booze and weapons," Gail quipped. Maybe a book or two, if Sam was allowed any input. "Oh, and we're going to need at least one bookshelf, too." 

"Just a second," Tommy said. He took a pad of paper and a pen out of his jacket pocket and gave them to Barry, who smiled at his boyfriend. "Hey, once a reporter, always a reporter," Tommy said, shrugging. 

Barry started making notes. "Anything else?" he asked Gail. 

She thought for a moment. "I can't think of anything specific." She looked at Cas. "Can you?" 

He smiled and leaned towards Barry, whispering something in his ear. Barry laughed. "No problem, Cas. I'll make sure to include those." 

Gail looked suspiciously at the two of them, and then she shrugged. She wasn't the only one who was going to live here, and if Cas wanted something that was going to be a surprise to her, she was fine with that. She moved forward and gave both Barry and Tommy a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, thanking them. Then she and Cas winked their friends back to the bunker. 

Once they dropped Barry and Tommy off at the bunker, the Angels winked themselves back to Italy. Cas had told Gail that he wanted to see if they could get an audience with Pope Francis prior to the wedding. 

"I'm hoping he will remember me," Cas said to her. "We will need to make our confession prior to the wedding, and I am hoping he will agree to take it from us." 

Gail looked at him. "When you say 'take our confession', what exactly do you mean?" she asked him warily. 

He took her hand. "Just that. Anything that we feel we need to confess before we start our new lives together as one. I just thought that Pope Francis would be ideal. He seemed like a very compassionate, down-to-earth individual. And he already knows that I was a Demon." He smiled thinly. "That should save some time." 

She frowned. "We're supposed to talk to the Pope about being Demons? Is this another one of those ancient rules, or something?" 

"Not per se," he told her. "But yes, it is required that we clean our souls and our consciences before we enter into the bond." 

Gail sighed. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't had the notion that there would be a little more to this than just a simple ceremony. "Okay, Cas," she said, using a phrase she thought she would never hear herself say, "let's go see the Pope." 

They approached the gate at the Vatican and Cas said to the guard, "We seek an audience with the Pope, please." 

The man smiled indulgently at the couple. "You, and everyone else. But it doesn't work like that. I have a schedule of his public appearances here." He grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Cas. 

Cas folded the schedule and put it in his inside pocket, but he remained standing where he was. "Can you at least give him a call and tell him I'm here? My name is Castiel. If he tells you he can't or won't see me, I'll go away. But at least call him for me, please." He squeezed Gail's hand. Castiel was sure that Pope Francis would grant them an audience. 

The security guard sighed. Everyone needed to see the Pope, and they needed to see him right away. They were sure he would see them immediately if they just told him their stories. But this particular Pope had actually left standing instructions to call through to the residence if anyone from the list were to stop by, and the guard was pretty sure that the name "Castiel" had been on that list. 

"Just a minute," he said. He went into the kiosk and checked the clipboard. "Castiel" was the second name on the list. The guard picked up the phone. 

After a couple of minutes, the man came back outside. "His Holiness will see you," he told them, and buzzed them inside the gate. 

They walked to the residence building and when Cas knocked, the door opened and a man said, "I'll take you to him." He led them to a room down the hall, tapped lightly on the door, then let them in. "Go ahead," he said to the Angels. 

Cas and Gail walked into the room. Pope Francis stood and approached them. "Please close the door, Castiel," the Pontiff said. As Cas did so, the Pope smiled at Gail. "You must be the Angel Gail," he said, and he extended his hand to her. 

Gail was paralyzed with indecision. What should she do here? She gave him her hand, but impulsively, she bowed her head and got down to one knee. 

"Please rise, Gail," Pope Francis said, bemused. 

She did, and he smiled at her. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Gail," he told her. Then he extended his hand to Cas. "It's good to see you," the Pope said to him. "You look happy and serene, even though you have been given the Herculean task of apprehending Lucifer." 

"You know about that?" Gail blurted out. Then she felt extremely stupid. This was the Pope, one of God's representatives on Earth. Of course he would know that Lucifer was out there. 

Pope Francis looked at them both and sighed. "Yes, I know that he walks the Earth. But I also know that you and your friends are doing everything you can to stop him. There will be hard times and great sacrifice ahead, but I have faith that you will ultimately prevail. So what can I do for the two of you today?" 

"We plan to marry October 15th," Castiel told him. "And we were hoping that you would hear our confession." 

"Yes, of course I will," Pope Francis replied. "Where are you to be married?" 

Cas's look was sheepish. "We haven't really made those arrangements yet. I was hoping perhaps you could advise us as to a venue, as well." 

The Pope smiled, looking at Gail. "If it's all right with you, I could arrange to have the two of you married right here, and I could perform the ceremony myself." 

"You would do that for us?" Gail asked him, touched. 

"I would be glad to do it," he replied. "I can think of no other union I would be happier to bless." Then he smiled and leaned forward. "And I promise to keep it short and sweet. We need both of you back out there, fighting the good fight." 

"We will be saying our own vows," Cas told the Pope. 

"A break from tradition?" Francis said, raising an eyebrow. "Good for you, Castiel." 

Cas smiled. "I've never been that much of a traditionalist," he said. "Just ask our Father." 

"Oh, believe me, He knows," the Pope said, smiling. He reached out and took Gail's hand in one of his, and one of Cas's hands in the other. "We will go to the cathedral, and I will hear your confessions," Francis told them, then he smiled again, and there was a little bit of mischief in his smile. "Do you think that you could teleport me there? I've always wanted to have that experience." 

Cas and Gail laughed, and winked him over to the cathedral. 

Pope Francis put his vestments on and came back out to the altar. Castiel and Gail were sitting in the front pew waiting, and he came down to sit beside them. 

"How exactly does this work?" Gail said nervously. "I guess that's my first confession; I confess I've never done anything quite like this before." 

Cas had a hold of her hand and he gave it a gentle squeeze. He knew that this would be a little foreign to her, but he also knew how much she would appreciate the cathartic experience a proper confession could potentially provide. And while it was true that he wasn't that much of a traditionalist, there was something to be said for some of the ancient rituals. He wasn't looking forward to some of the things he might have to say and do, but he was looking forward to having his soul cleansed. 

Pope Francis could see how nervous Gail was. It was obvious that she was still a novice Angel. He could only imagine how she felt. He himself was a bit of an unorthodox Pontiff, a "Pope for the people", and as such, Francis understood what it felt like to be respectful of the old traditions while approaching them in a new and modern way. To make her feel at ease, he said, "How about if we start off by talking about marriage itself? What does it mean to each of you, and what are your expectations?" 

"It means standing up before God and our family and friends and making the ultimate commitment to the love of my life," Gail said without hesitation. 

Cas squeezed her hand again. "I couldn't have said that better myself," he told her. 

The Pope smiled gently. "And, what are your expectations?" he asked them. 

Gail frowned. "I'm not sure I know what you mean," she said softly. 

"I'm pretty sure Castiel does," the Pope said with a smile. He looked at Cas. "You need to tell your fiancee, honestly, whether you will expect her to honour the ancient rules once you are married. You owe it to her to give her the opportunity to decide if she is willing to adhere to those rules. Or, if you will not be asking her to follow them, you need to tell her that, too." 

Gail looked curiously at Cas. "I knew there was more to it than you were letting on. Even Cro-" She cut herself off, horrified. She'd been about to say the name of the King of Hell out loud in a cathedral in Vatican City, in front of the Pope. 

But Pope Francis was smiling again. "It's all right, Gail. I'm aware of who Castiel's brother is. Though, you are right, it's not a name we would normally mention in a venue such as this. But, Crowley was right. A marriage between two Angels, especially involving such an exalted one," he said, giving a nod to Castiel, "is a very serious and solemn occasion. That doesn't mean it's not a joyous one, as well, but it is definitely not to be entered into lightly." 

Cas's blue eyes were gazing at Gail, and his expression was hard to read. She sighed. "What are those ancient rules that the Pope is talking about, Cas?" she asked him. 

"You'll be angry," he said in a subdued tone. 

Great, she thought. But she said nothing, just sat back and waited for him to continue. 

Now it was Cas's turn to sigh. "I'm sure you have wondered why there haven't been any females in upper-tier positions in Heaven," he said to her. 

Gail frowned. "Yes and no. I just figured it was because of the ancient laws, and because old-time male Angels aren't exactly models of enlightenment." 

"Well, that's certainly part of it, but there's more to it than that," Cas told her. He swallowed, then continued, "Traditionally, when Angels marry, the female will promise the male her love, fidelity, obedience, and subservience." 

Gail knew Cas well enough by now to know that he was not joking, but she couldn't help but sit there and gape at him for a moment, as if waiting for him to break into a smile or follow through with a punchline. 

"Well, it's been very nice meeting you," she quipped, looking at the Pope, "but I'm out of here." 

"I knew you'd be angry," Cas said to her. 

"Angry?" Gail said. She was almost speechless. Almost. "Now, why on earth would you think that the idea of vowing to be obedient and subservient would make me angry?" 

"I didn't say I was going to ask you to do it," Cas protested. "I was merely telling you what the ancient rules state." 

She raised an eyebrow to him. "But why would you even tell me about it if you weren't considering it?" 

"All right, Gail!" Castiel exclaimed. "I will confess to you now, in front of the Pope, that I did consider asking you to make those vows." 

Gail laughed shortly. He had to be kidding with this. "Excuse me, have we met?" she said dryly. 

"I'm serious, Gail," Castiel said earnestly. She rolled her eyes and took her hand away from his as Pope Francis sat back in the pew, observing the couple. This should be interesting, he thought with some amusement. 

"You're serious?" Gail asked incredulously. "You really want me to obey you, and be subservient to you?" 

"A part of me does, yes," he responded. He'd known that this was going to make her very angry, but a confession had to be brutally honest, or it wasn't a confession. "You're so stubborn sometimes, and you've put yourself in danger many times because of it. You insist on being independent, and I cannot protect you if you just go out there and do whatever you want, whenever you want." 

"Really?" Gail exclaimed. "Would you like me to keep my face covered whenever we go out, too? Maybe be dependent on you to take me wherever I want to go? Are we back in Egypt, all of a sudden? Are you even hearing yourself right now?" 

Cas was agitated. "I am merely making my confession that sometimes, that is the way I feel. But I would never expect you to take those vows, Gail, and I would never want you to be anyone other than who you are. Who you are is who I want to marry. I reject the ancient rules." 

She eyed him suspiciously. "You're not just saying that to appease me?" 

"No," Cas assured her, "I'm saying it because I believe the ancient rules are wrong, and I do not want us to live our lives according to them. That's why I was so anxious for us to say our own vows." Then he smiled. "Well, that was one reason. The other reason is that I loved hearing you say words of endearment to me, and I'll use any opportunity to hear you do so again." He glanced at the Pope. "I'm sorry, your Grace." 

Gail leaned forward and kissed Cas on the lips. "So am I," she said softly. "I just had to do that." 

"Never apologize for a genuine expression of love," Pope Francis told them. "That's one of our Father's favourite things." 

The Angels smiled at him. Now Gail was glad they'd come here. The Pope was a kind, benevolent man, and if she had to confess to anyone she didn't know, she was okay that it was him. 

"So how does the confession part work, now?" Gail asked the Pope. 

"You may speak to me individually, or as a couple. The choice is yours," he replied. 

Cas had reclaimed Gail's hand once her anger had dissipated, and he gave it a squeeze now. "I would like for us to do it together, if you will agree," he told her. "It may be painful, but then we will have absolutely no secrets from each other, and we will both be cleansed at the end." 

Great. More true confessions, Gail thought. Where was Lucifer now, with his "Truth or Truth"? The truth was, she was a little tired of confessions. Every time she turned around, she was being asked to rip a strip off her soul and show it to people. They had never discussed the confessions that she and Cas and the Winchesters had made in front of each other in the Egyptian tomb. She'd thought hers was the deepest and most soul-bearing confession. But then, she supposed the guys might all feel that way, too. But all four of them had been through so much together that it was almost as though they had an unspoken agreement that whatever was shared between them should stay just between the four of them, and not warrant further discussion. 

And now here Cas was, asking her to bare her soul yet again. But he was also saying that they would feel cleansed and relieved afterwards, and that the confession would provide them with a brand new start going forward with their lives, together. And that idea appealed to her very much. 

"I'll start," Castiel said. "There have been times that I've thought that our Father sent you to me just to test me." 

Gail was a little puzzled by his statement, but she was also amused. "Really? Well, how do you think you did on the test?" 

"Apparently, this particular exam is meant to last for the rest of my existence," Cas said, smiling. 

"Well, our Father might have sent me to the bunker in the first place, but I was the one who decided to stick around," Gail retorted. 

That comment made God chuckle. He was listening avidly to their confession, of course. He had been over the moon when Castiel had finally proposed, and God's heart had been full to bursting with pride when He'd watched the acquisition of the Heaven and Earth Tablets. He's been especially proud of His Son's decisiveness and swift action in Egypt. Sometimes the hard choices had to be made, and He had been impressed with Castiel's mature handling of the situation. God had never shied away from the spilling of blood when there had been no other way to get the job done, and as far as He was concerned, the blood of the Egyptian people was on the Governor's hands, not Castiel's. The man had been given every opportunity to capitulate, and it had been his stubbornness that had gotten his people killed. Some things never changed, did they? 

"And you're not the only one who's been tested," Gail continued. Now there was a bit of an edge to her voice. "Sometimes you can be a handful, too. What about your temper?" 

"I suppose that's why our Father sent me a meek woman, then, because He was afraid of my temper," Castiel shot back. 

"You think you're pretty funny, don't you?" Gail said, rolling her eyes. 

"Yes, my sense of humour has improved immensely since you came into my life," Cas told her sincerely. 

"Good. Hang onto it, because you're going to need it," she said. Then she couldn't help but smile. 

Pope Francis was watching the two of them, his head moving back and forth from one Angel to the other, like he was watching a tennis match. This was the most unusual confession he had ever heard, but he was just going with the flow. He knew that couples with an infinite capacity to love were sometimes passionate in other areas as well, and this couple obviously had some feelings to express. 

Castiel was staring at Gail. Now that she was smiling, he was fighting not to smile, too. But there was something serious that he wanted to say to her now, in front of the Pope, in the very cathedral in which he hoped she would marry him very soon. "I'm sorry about everything bad that I ever did to you," he said somberly. "I tried to subjugate you and bend you to my will. I hurt you and I humiliated you, while I was claiming to love and respect you. To this day, I don't know why I did those things. That's not me, Gail. And I don't know how you can be with me, loving me, after I subjected you to them." 

As the Pope looked at Cas, puzzled by his comments, Gail replied quietly, "Sometimes I wonder that same thing. But then I think about the real you, the one I love. You're so far removed from that guy it's like night and day. I can forgive all of those things because it wasn't you that was doing them. And my confession is that I allowed it. There are a million things I could have done differently. I had to go through my own test, Cas, and in my case it was weakness of character. It was lack of love for myself that made me stay with you then. But it's complete love of myself that's prompting me to want to marry you now, because you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Cas. I never want to be apart from you again." 

Pope Francis was looking at them both, astonished. He never thought he would be hearing such a confession from two of God's elite Angels. He was still in the dark about exactly what they were talking about, but this was clearly a private matter, just between the two of them, and he was merely here to be their witness. So he remained silent. 

Cas was crying now. "I will spend the rest of my existence making sure that you never have cause to regret that decision. And I will never, ever hurt you again. I promise you that, Gail." 

"Sounds good to me," she said. "But don't ever stop disagreeing with me, either. It's kind of hot when we argue." Then she clapped both hands over her mouth. Gail had momentarily forgotten where they were, and who they were sitting here with. 

The Pope smiled. "That's all right, Gail. I didn't hear a thing. And our Father tells me that you've said things of a similar nature before, though usually you do not say them out loud." 

"I guess that's my last confession, then; sometimes I don't have much of a filter. I totally blame Frank," she said sheepishly. She took Cas's hands in hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. "You know what? I do feel better. I don't know about you, but I'm good to go," she added pertly. 

Cas smiled at her. She was so cute. He had expected their confession together to be much more dramatic and heart-wrenching, but then he realized that they had basically been confessing their feelings to each other ever since they had become a couple. They hadn't held much back in their day-to-day interactions with each other, as far as honest feelings went. And that was a good thing. Now they would be going into their marriage with a clean slate. 

"Thank you, Your Holiness," Cas said to the Pope. "This has meant the world to us." 

The Pontiff shrugged. "The two of you did all the talking. I was merely here to listen. I'll see you here at 1:00 p.m. sharp, October 15th." 

The Angels thanked him again and popped him back to his residence, and then they were on their way. 

"Well, it's certainly been an interesting birthday so far," Gail remarked casually as they left the Pope's home. "We've laughed, we've cried, we got a Tablet, we got a wedding venue...I wonder what we should do now?" 

Cas stopped short, shocked. "It's your birthday today?" he said, open-mouthed. Of course. She'd told him before that it was October 3rd. They'd spoken about it subsequently, and she had mentioned being unsure as to whether that was her true birthdate. Now that they knew she was adopted, they didn't know whether or not that was actually the date she was born, or whether that was the date that Frank's parents had chosen to celebrate. But Castiel somehow had the feeling that it was her true birthdate. 

He felt terrible now. His first opportunity to give her a really special day, and he had failed. And while she was correct that it had been an eventful day so far, that was hardly the same thing. He sent an immediate message to Bobby on Angel Radio, asking him for a huge favour. 

"Would you like to go to a cafe and have a glass of wine and talk about the wedding?" Cas said to Gail. "I have a couple of ideas I would like to tell you about." 

She looked at him curiously, but then she shrugged. "OK, Cas, that would be nice. I guess we'd better get going on some more plans. It's only 12 days away, now." 

So they went to a bistro and sat side by side at an outdoor table. Cas couldn't seem to break himself of the habit of sitting beside her instead of across from her in these types of situations, and Gail found that endearing. 

Cas took her hand, stalling for time. "We'll recruit our Angel friends to teleport our human friends to the cathedral," he said. "Then all we'll need is a dress for you. I can do the flowers, as I did for Frank and Jody's wedding. And then we'll have to find a venue for the reception afterwards. You can let them know what you want to serve, once we find the place. Now that I know I can give us an appetite by myself, I can do that, if you like. I must say, I have always thought I would like to partake in my own wedding feast, should such a day ever come. And we can enjoy some champagne, as well." He had ordered a glass of wine for them both, but his glass sat on the table now, untouched. Cas wasn't that big on eating and drinking as a general rule, but he understood that there were times when the ritual that was involved in doing so could be very special in and of itself, because of what it represented. He had intended to make a toast with Gail for her birthday, but right now, he was just buying a little time. 

"Maybe we'll just have an Italian buffet, then," Gail said. "And if we can get a DJ, we could have music and dancing, just like at Frank and Jody's wedding. That's pretty much all we need, I think." 

"Will you be requiring me to dance?" Cas said nervously. 

Gail laughed. "'Requiring' you? No, I don't 'require' you to do anything, Cas. It's your wedding, too. I want you to be comfortable. If you're not comfortable dancing, that's OK." 

"We will have our first dance together, of course," he told her. "I should be able to do that competently enough." 

Gail smiled and shook her head. "It's been my experience that when you think you're doing something 'competently', you're still doing it better than anyone else in the room," she said to him warmly. 

Cas wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the mouth. "What a lovely thing to say," he said softly. Then he smiled. "And now you see why I choose to sit beside you at a table, rather than across from you." 

"Do you hear me complaining?" she said, kissing him gently on the cheek. 

Cas was about to kiss her again when he got the call from Bobby on Angel Radio. They had everything all ready at the bunker. Cas was happy, and he was also impressed. They'd had no notice, but it sounded like both their human and their Angel friends had risen to the challenge. 

"I'd like to make a toast," Cas said. He handed Gail her glass of wine and picked his up, tipping it towards her. "Happy birthday, my love. Next to our anniversary, this will always be my favourite date, because it is the date that our Father created the love of my life." 

Gail smiled. They touched glasses and had a sip of wine, then Cas took both glasses in his hands and put them back on the table. "And now, we have to go back to the bunker. Bobby sent me a message on Angel Radio. Apparently, your presence is required there." 

She was surprised. They were having a birthday party for her? She'd been sure that no one had remembered it was her birthday. She felt sure that Cas hadn't remembered, and she'd guessed that Frank hadn't, either. Or maybe Frank had been uncertain if they should celebrate, now that she knew she was adopted. "They've got something planned for my birthday?" she said. 

Cas shrugged. "I guess so. Frank must be behind it. I suppose we'll find out when we get there." 

They popped over to the bunker, and Cas was very happy to see everyone gathered there. They had done a wonderful job for such short notice. There were balloons and streamers, and Barry had a cake with a few candles on it. There were a few wrapped presents too, and hugs and kisses all around. 

"I'm glad you called Bobby," Frank said quietly to Cas while Gail was cutting pieces of cake for their human friends. She'd gotten a bit of icing on her finger and she automatically licked it, and the expression on her face was so comical that Cas had to turn away to keep from laughing out loud. Apparently, the icing was so sweet that it had overloaded her sense of taste for a moment. He was reminded that there was a reason that Angels didn't eat. 

"I would have done something for her birthday, but I didn't know where you guys were gonna be," Frank told Cas. "But as soon as you called, everyone sprang into action. I've got to tell you, this is a lot better than my birthday was." Both men fell silent, remembering how their attempts to celebrate Frank's birthday had fallen flat. That was when Gail had been Sarah, and her absence from the bunker had created such a void that nothing had been right until she'd come back. 

And just look at her now. She was handing out pieces of cake, talking and laughing with their friends. "I love her so much, Frank," Cas blurted out. "She's my whole life." 

Frank smiled. "I know. Twelve days from now, there are going to be a lot of happy people in that cathedral, Cas. And I'll be one of them." He put out his hand for Cas to shake. "I couldn't think of a better guy for my sister to marry, Cas." 

Cas looked at Frank's hand, and Frank sighed, rolling his eyes. "All right, Cas. Bring it in," he said. Cas embraced Gail's brother, and Frank patted him on the back, smiling. God help everyone the day of the wedding, Frank thought, amused. He was going to have to help Cas keep it together. 

"What's going on here?" Sam asked, approaching the men. 

"Nothing, just Cas and me, talking about the wedding. You know, like guys do," Frank said, prying Cas off of him. 

"All right, we're gonna have to man you up a bit," Dean said to Cas. Then he did a double-take when he saw his friend's face. "OK, maybe a lot. Tommy and I have been planning your bachelor party. Since you won't let us provide the usual form of entertainment, we're going to have a poker tournament instead. Guy food, lots of booze, and cigars. One week from today. That way, we'll all have a few days' recovery time before the wedding." 

Cas smiled. He knew it was very important to Dean to do this for him, and he was glad to receive his best friend's congratulations. "Sounds good," he said, clapping Dean on the shoulder. "I'll let Gail know." 

"Let me know what?" she said, approaching them. She thrust a plate with a piece of cake into Frank's hand. 

"That Dean has planned my bachelor party for a week from today." Cas took Gail's hand. "Just let us know where, and we'll be there," he told Dean, kissing Gail's hand. 

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Dean said suspiciously. 

Gail was smiling. Cas obviously didn't get it. This should be fun. 

"I mean, we, as in Gail and I," Cas said, puzzled. Exactly what was Dean confused about, here? "Just let us know the time and the place." 

"Cas, it's a bachelor party," Dean said, shaking his head. Cas had to be kidding with this. 

"I know that, Dean," Cas said pleasantly. "It's a party that is held prior to the wedding, while the groom is still technically a bachelor." 

"Yeah, and it's for men only," Dean said pointedly. 

"But you were prepared to have women there, until I told you I wouldn't be having any strippers," Cas said logically. Then he smiled. "Unless you meant for the strippers to be male." 

"This bachelor party just got a lot more interesting," Tommy quipped, and Barry elbowed him in the ribs. Jody smiled approvingly. Just like her and Frank. She was a little concerned about Robbie hearing all of this, though. The poor kid had had to hear a lot of very adult things, hanging around here. But then, what did she expect, really? Sam and Dean Winchester's world had always been like this. Very testosterone-fueled, and not exactly child-friendly. That had never bothered Jody before, and it didn't really bother her now. She only regretted that Robbie was going to be forced to grow up very quickly, being raised in this type of atmosphere. But there was nothing they could do about it, not really. Until Lucifer was dealt with, their life was going to be very much like it was right now. 

"That's not the same thing," Dean was saying to Cas now. "You know that's not the same thing, Cas. You're just screwing with me now, aren't you?" 

Cas smiled. "Yes, I am. I'd still love Gail to be there, though." 

"Well, I'm not going to be," she said. "I don't smoke, eat, drink, or play poker. What the hell am I going to do there?" She kissed Cas on the cheek. "Have fun, sweetie. Let your hair down a bit. Have a couple of drinks. Refer to me as 'the old ball and chain'. Whatever you want." She smiled at Dean. "The floor is yours. I'm staying well away." 

Dean tipped her a salute. "There's a smart woman. Now, if Cas would only relax his rule on female entertainment..." 

"Well, I'm not going to, so you can just forget it," Cas said to him. "It'll be fun, though. We'll have - " he counted on his fingers " - at least ten men there, so we can form two tables of five each, to begin the tournament." 

"Are you including us, Cas?" Chuck asked him. 

"Of course, Chuck," Cas said. "Bobby, you, Kevin, and Ethan. You're males, and you're my friends." 

"I don't know much about playing poker," Ethan said. 

"I do," Kevin told him. "Or at least, I know the strategy behind it. I can show you." He was pleased to be included in the group. Even though the party seemed like it was going to be fairly tame, Kevin was glad that Cas didn't consider him too young to be included in this group of men. 

"Speaking of parties, thanks for this one," Gail said to her brother, stretching up to kiss him on the cheek. "It was a really nice surprise." 

Frank hugged her, but he looked at Cas, puzzled. Cas gave his head a slight shake. He was just fine with Frank receiving the credit. As long as Gail was happy, that was the main thing. 

"I want to open my presents now," Gail announced, and she walked over to the table where the small pile of gifts were. 

Sam and Dean had given her a gift card for a bookstore, and Bobby and the Angels had given her a lovely red sweater that she thought would be ideal to wear on Christmas. Barry had given her a little box that was taped on all sides, and when she opened it, she was surprised to see that it was a lacy white garter. "For your wedding," he told her. "I wasn't sure if Cas would know about that tradition, or not." 

"Of course I know about it," Cas said good-naturedly. "But you just gave that to Gail in hopes that you would catch it yourself, didn't you?" he teased Barry. 

"The man is smart, I'll give him that," Barry said to Gail, and they laughed. 

"I didn't know what to get you," Frank said to his sister apologetically. "What do you get an Angel?" 

Gail shrugged. Truthfully, she didn't care. While it was nice to get gifts, of course, there honestly wasn't much she needed that she didn't already have. All except for one thing, she thought, or one person, actually. She looked at Cas. "What DO you get an Angel?" she repeated. "How about another Angel, in twelve days?" she quipped. 

He walked around the table and took her hand, pulling her gently to her feet. He put his arms around her waist and kissed her. Gail put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. Cas opened her mouth with his. He was so tempted to look for her tongue, but he figured he'd better not. In twelve days, they could be as intimate as they wanted. He would just have to hold on a little bit longer. 

Cas broke the kiss and stepped away from her, albeit reluctantly. 

"Thanks to everyone for coming today," Gail said to their friends and family. "And we can't wait to see you at the next really big party." 

Then they all sang Happy Birthday to Gail, and she smiled. It was the best birthday she had ever had.


	2. Visions of Angels

The wedding day had finally arrived, and Gail was a nervous wreck. 

She was in the bunker, pacing up and down the floor in the library area. Every time she stopped and then started walking the opposite way, she would catch the train of her dress on a chair, or a bookshelf, and she would yank it free, but then she would walk some more, and then she would do it again. 

"Would you quit that, already?" Jody said to her. "You're gonna rip that thing, before Cas even sees it." 

"I was nuts to let him talk me into a dress like this," Gail wailed. "This dress is way too fancy for me. I'm going to take two steps down the aisle and then fall flat on my face." 

"No, you aren't," Jody said sternly. "I'm going to grab that thing and throw it behind you, and you and Frank and I are going to just walk forward down the aisle. It's as simple as that." 

Gail smiled at her sister-in-law. She did make it sound so simple. Gail had been crazy to buy this dress; she knew that now. She was only going to wear it the once, and even though they'd had plenty of jackpot money left over after they'd paid for the house and furnishings, it had felt like a real indulgence. She'd tried it on just for the hell of it, but when she'd called Cas on his cell phone and described it to him, he'd been so excited that she'd relented and bought it. She had to admit it was a really beautiful dress, but Gail was starting to feel a little overwhelmed now. Was she really going to walk down the aisle in a cathedral in Vatican City and marry God's favourite Son in a formal ceremony, officiated by the Pope? Whose life was this, anyway? 

Frank came out of the hallway, dusting off the lapels of his suit jacket. He saw Gail and he stopped short, letting out a low whistle. 

"Shit just got real," Frank quipped, and Gail laughed out loud. 

"Thank you for that," she said, letting out a breath. "Hey you, come here and hug me. I'd come there, but if I snag this train one more time, I'm saying the hell with it and getting married in my bathrobe." 

Frank went over to hug her, and she kissed him on the cheek and said, "I love you, but if you say anything remotely like that when we get to the cathedral, or in front of the Pope, I'm going to have to kill you, you know that, right? Actually, maybe I'll have Sam and Dean do it. I think they're getting rusty. The only thing I've seen them kill in days is a spider that was in the garage, and that was only because it was trying to spin a web on Dean's Baby." 

They laughed, and Frank said, "Once we get this romantic crap out of the way, we're going to have to resume our training sessions. Maybe you can ask your good buddy Crowley if there are some of his guys he hates that we can take out, just for the practice." 

"Let's not say that name either, especially today, of all days," Gail groaned. 

Frank smirked. "Yeah, Cas is going to be a basket case today as it is. I'd better go see how he's doing. Make sure he hasn't run for the hills. He looked a little green at the bachelor party when I told him what you were like to live with, all those years." 

"He looked a little green because you and Sam and Dean poured all that alcohol down his throat," Gail retorted. 

"Hey, he didn't have to drink it," Frank said, not unreasonably. 

Gail shrugged. That was true enough. But it had been Cas's bachelor party, after all. And by all accounts, the men had had a good time. She herself had only seen Cas for a minute that night, and she hadn't seen him since. He had come back to the bunker for a quick, soggy kiss that night, and then informed her that he was moving to Rome until the wedding. 

"What? Why?" she had asked him. 

"Because we're not supposed to be together before the wedding," he'd told her, swaying slightly on his feet. 

Gail had been amused. "Are you drunk?" she'd asked him. 

"No, of course not," he'd said quickly, but he'd continued to sway as he stood there, looking at her with a goofy smile on his face. He put his hands on her shoulders. "It's customary for the bride and groom to be apart before the wedding. It makes their coming together all that much more special, once they are married." 

Gail thought that was very sweet. "Okay," she told him. "Off you go, then." 

"Are you asking me to leave?" Cas had asked her, looking hurt. "Dean said you might be angry if I drank too much, but he kept refreshing my glass, anyway." 

"Didn't you just say - ?" Gail rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Do whatever you want, Cas," she said, exasperated. 

"I can't do what I really want to do," he'd told her, smiling charmingly. "That's why I have to go to Rome, right now." 

Gail had looked at him and laughed. Damn, he was good. Even when he was far drunker than an Angel should ever be, he was still cute. So she'd helped him pack, and he had hugged and kissed her, and then he began to cry. 

"The next time I see you, we'll be getting married," Cas had told her, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, and her lips. 

"That's right," she'd agreed, smiling. Boy, was he drunk. 

"Let's go, Cas," Bobby had said, grabbing Cas by the arm. Cas picked up his suitcase, smiling at Gail. "I'm escorting this drunken idjit to Rome," Bobby had told her. "I'll see you at the wedding, dear." Then he had winked himself and Cas out of there. 

"Are you and Jody gonna be OK here until Bobby comes back?" Frank asked his sister now. 

"Are you gonna behave yourself until I get there?" Jody countered. "Remember: Angel wedding, Pope, cathedral? Act like a civilized human being, for a change." But she smiled and kissed Frank on the cheek. 

"Ready, Frank?" Bobby asked Gail's brother. 

Frank gave Gail another squeeze, and a peck on the cheek. "See you in a minute, kiddo. I'll try to keep Cas from climbing the walls until you get there." Then Bobby took Frank's arm, and they winked out. 

Cas was climbing the walls. Sam and Dean had been trying to keep him calm, or at least, keep him standing in one spot for two seconds. But he was too nervous and excited to stay still. When Bobby showed up with Frank, Cas rushed over to them. 

"How is she? Is she ready? Is she nervous? Excited?" Cas asked Frank anxiously. 

"Whoa, slow down, Cas," Frank said, putting his arm around Cas's shoulders. "Take a breath, buddy. She's fine. She's trying to get used to walking in that fancy dress you wanted her to buy. It's kind of funny, really." 

Cas stopped his pacing for a minute to picture Gail in the dress as she had described it to him. He was so excited. He couldn't wait to see her in it. She would look so beautiful. He had tried to make himself as handsome for her as he could. He'd shaved very close, rearranged his hair several times, and dressed in her favourite suit on him, the one he'd been wearing when they'd had their first date. Then he'd made flower boutonnieres for himself and Sam and Dean, and he made one for Frank now. Frank stood as patiently as he could while Cas pinned it on him. 

"But, yeah, she was all ready, Cas," Frank continued. "After Bobby brought me here, he was going back for Gail and Jody. Then she's gonna spend a couple of minutes here, doing whatever it is that women do, and then we should be good to go. She's excited, she's nervous, she's acting pretty much like you are right now." 

Cas finished pinning the flower on Frank's lapel and smiled. She was nervous and excited, too? She was acting like he was? How wonderful. 

But then he frowned. "How nervous is she, Frank?" It had suddenly occurred to Cas that maybe it wasn't so cute that she was nervous, after all. If she was that nervous, did it mean that she was having second thoughts? 

For a split second, Frank considered telling Cas that she was, just for a laugh. If he'd thought the guy could take it, he might have joked that she'd been talking about backing out. But even Frank couldn't bring himself to be that mean. He did like to mess around with Cas sometimes, but Frank had quickly found out at the bachelor party that there were certain jokes that just wouldn't work on Cas. 

"She'll try to be the boss, if you let her," Frank had told Cas at the bachelor party, when they'd both had quite a bit to drink. "You might have to put your foot down once in a while." He was joking, of course. Well, mostly. 

"I've tried that," Cas had told Frank earnestly. "She just gets angry with me. Besides, it seems to me that the man is traditionally supposed to be the boss, but in practice, it seems to be the woman who is really in charge. Is that not the way it is with you and Jody?" 

"We're not talking about my relationship, we're talking about yours," Frank had said hastily. Then the two men had looked at each other and burst out laughing, putting their arms around each others' shoulders. 

Cas felt very close to Frank now, as close as he felt to Sam and Dean, and he felt very privileged to have all three men stand up with him today. He checked his appearance in the mirror again, and then he resumed his pacing. 

The guests were all assembled now, waiting for the ceremony to begin. There was an interesting mix of humans and Angels there, but everyone assembled knew that it was something very special that they were going to witness today. It wasn't every day that humans got to witness a wedding between two exalted Angels, being officiated by the Pope himself. 

Barry was thinking about the bachelor party, too. The poker tournament had been a lot of fun. It had come down to Barry, Cas, and Chuck in the end, and Barry had ended up winning the whole thing. Barry had crowed about it at the time, enjoying his moment. Sam and Dean had said they'd never known Cas to lose before, and neither had Barry, except for that one time that Gail had beaten them all. So Barry had had his fun, but he had the poker winnings in an envelope in his pocket now, and he was going to give the envelope to Gail and Cas at the reception. Gail might want the money to buy something for the house. Although what she might be lacking was beyond Barry. He and Tommy had worked very hard in the past couple of weeks, and they had also pressed Sam and Dean and Jody and Frank into service. And a couple of times Bobby had "lent" them a few Angels, as well. As a result, Cas and Gail's house was all ready for them to move in. It was fully furnished, and it had every amenity that Barry could think of. He'd even bought them an artificial Christmas tree, and a bunch of decorations for it. Dean had argued that Cas and Gail might want a real tree, but Barry had countered that after the wedding, their Angel friends would probably dive right back into the Tablet search, and who knew where they'd all be in December? Dean had to concede to his logic. 

And they wouldn't even need the money for their wedding, as it seemed like everything had been magically bought and paid for. For the past two weeks, Cas and Barry had been walking around Rome making wedding arrangements, and every time they had decided on a particular thing, their money was suddenly no good. The food, the DJ, and the venue were all just given to them. Both men had been mystified, but no matter how much Castiel had tried to insist on paying, no one would take his money. 

When they'd walked out of the bakery, having just picked out the wedding cake, Barry had touched Cas's arm. "I think we'd better make sure there's a bride and groom on the top of the cake when it's ready. I think that guy might have thought there should be two grooms on top of the cake, instead." 

Cas was puzzled for just a moment, and then he smiled. "That's because you've been as excited as I have about all of these things," he told Barry. 

"Well, as much as I hate to conform to a stereotype, I love making wedding plans," Barry had told Cas. "Maybe I should make that my new career. I think it's great of Gail to let me do all of this stuff with you." 

Cas was still smiling. "I didn't really give her much of a choice. And she doesn't conform to the stereotype, either. Once I told her that I needed to have things to do to keep me busy, she told me a couple of preferences that she had and then gave me the green light." 

Barry was looking at Cas curiously. "Not that I'm complaining, but why aren't you doing all these things with her?" 

"Because the ancient rules state that the bride and groom cannot look upon each other from now until the ceremony," Cas told him. "I should not have even seen her the night of the bachelor party." 

"Oh." Barry didn't know what else to say to that, really. Ancient rules? From what he had been able to understand, this wedding was going to be mostly modern, with only a few nods to tradition thrown in. He already knew that Cas and Gail hadn't been together in the same bed since they'd spent their engagement night in Barry's former hotel in Vancouver. All of their friends had been pretty sure that that was the case with the couple, but Cas had tipsily confirmed that as a fact at the bachelor party. So Barry supposed he could understand Cas's need to keep busy. Barry and Tommy had sometimes spent weeks without being intimate when Tommy had been on the road for the newspaper, and Barry knew how difficult it was to be without your other half, when you were truly in love. 

"Well, I think it's kind of neat that he thought that you and I were the ones who were getting married," Barry said to Cas. "I have to admit, just for a second there, I fantasized about it. I hope that doesn't bother you." 

Cas smiled. "Well, I'm extremely flattered, but I think both Tommy and Gail might have an objection to that." 

Both men laughed, and then they had carried on making the arrangements. 

Jody knocked on the door of the room where the men were. "Everybody decent?" she called out, and then she let herself in the room anyway. 

Cas was very excited to see Jody, because her presence signified that Gail would also be here now. Jody smiled at him, but then she said, "Gail wants to see Sam and Dean for a minute." 

Oh. Well, all right. They were like brothers to Gail; perhaps she just wanted a hug and a kiss from each of them before the ceremony, Cas thought. And maybe she wanted to ask them how he was doing. 

"I need to make her bouquet," Cas told them. "You can take it to her, please." But now he was indecisive. He'd thought about it before, of course, but now that it was time to actually do it, Cas suddenly didn't know what colour her flowers should be. 

Unexpectedly, Sam said, "Why don't you just give her red and white roses? It's simple, it's classic, and she likes roses the best. Especially when they come from you." 

He and Cas made eye contact, and a moment of understanding passed between the two men. Sam had loved Gail for as long as Cas had, but Cas was marrying her today, and now Sam would move on. 

Cas conjured the bouquet and handed it to Dean. Dean grabbed the flowers, rolling his eyes. "Only for you, Cas. We'll see you in a couple of minutes." 

"Actually, could you all please leave the room now?" Cas said to everyone. "I need to pray and spend a couple of moments in quiet contemplation." 

They all looked at each other and shrugged. Castiel was an Angel, after all, so they supposed that was to be expected. "We'll be back in a few," Dean said, and they all left Cas alone. 

Sam and Dean knocked on Gail's door. "You wanted to see us?" Sam asked her through the door. 

Gail rushed to the door to open it. "Yeah, Sam. Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" 

Sam grinned at Dean. "She wants to talk to me alone." 

"Yes, and then I'm going to talk to Dean alone for a minute," she said. "Can you wait outside just a moment, Dean?" 

"Sure, we've got all day," he said sarcastically. Gail opened the door wider to admit Sam, then closed it again. 

Sam stared at her. "You look gorgeous," he told her. 

Gail smiled warmly. "Thanks, Sam. I hope Cas thinks so, too." 

"Are you kidding?" Sam said. "If he didn't think so, he'd have to be blind." 

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Gail said, "I just wanted to thank both you and Dean for everything. Thanks for rescuing me that night, and thanks for opening up your home to me. And most of all, thanks for deciding to call Cas to help, that night. I owe you guys everything." 

"You don't owe us anything, Gail. We love you," Sam said earnestly. 

"I love you too, Sam. I always have." She put her hand on his arm. "But I've been in love with Cas since the very first moment I saw him, and ever since that first day, I knew there could never be anybody else for me." 

Sam nodded. He got what she was trying to say. "I get that, Gail," he told her. "Here, give me a hug, and let's go get the two of you married, okay?" He opened his arms, and she walked into them. They hugged tightly for a moment, and then Gail sniffled and said, "Can you ask Dean to come in for a second?" 

Sam left the room, and Dean came in a moment later. He thrust the bouquet at her. "Here you go," he said. "Courtesy of hubby-to-be." 

Gail smelled the flowers, smiling. Roses were her favourite, and the bouquet was simple but beautiful. 

"What did you want to say, Gail?" Dean asked her. "We'd better get this show on the road." 

"I just wanted to say thank you," she told him. "Thank you for taking me in, and for treating me like a member of the family." Then she smiled. "And thank you for taking out your cell phone and calling a certain Angel that night." Gail's eyes started to fill with tears. "I will never be able to thank you enough, Dean. I owe you my happiness." 

"Aw, come on, Gail," he said. Cas had done this very same thing to him a short while ago, and Cas had been crying, too. Dean loved the both of them, but they were driving him nuts, and they were making his suit wet. Still, it was their wedding day, and Dean guessed he could take a second to tell Gail how he truly felt, since they were alone. "You know what?" he said to her. "I'm glad I called him that night, too. I seriously couldn't have picked a better woman for him than you, Gail. Look, I know I give you a hard time, and I'm gonna keep on giving you a hard time for the rest of my life. But that's just because you're the sister I never got to have, Gail. The one I didn't even know I wanted." 

Gail launched herself into his arms, and Dean gave her a big hug, and a kiss on the cheek. He held her tightly for a moment, and then he said, "OK, OK, let's go, already. Cas'll be hyperventilating. He's gonna have kittens in a minute." He smiled at her. "Sure you don't want me to pull Baby up to the side door? Last chance to make a run for it." 

She laughed, sniffling back the tears. "I don't think so, Dean. Thanks, anyway. In fact, I agree with you. Let's get this show on the road." 

Cas had been praying quietly for a couple of minutes now. He was thanking his Father profusely for all of the blessings he had received in recent years. Suddenly, Castiel felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and there was no one standing there. But then Castiel felt his Father's soft kiss on his forehead, and he smiled. 

God had wanted to give His Son His blessing, but He was electing to remain hidden from sight. This was His Son's and Daughter's day, and He didn't want to steal their thunder. 

God had been the one to make sure that none of the vendors that his Son had engaged would take any money from him. He had chuckled at Castiel's naivete when it came to such matters. Catering companies and reception venues usually had to be booked well ahead of time, and Castiel had just shown up at those places, expecting to be able to avail himself of their services immediately. But God could cut his Son some slack in this instance. His children were in the middle of their mission to defeat Lucifer, after all. They were only taking a quick break now to fit the wedding in because Gail had arbitrarily picked the date prior to the reverse ritual. Their Father knew that there would be tough times ahead for the group, and that some sacrifices and hard decisions would have to be made. So the very least He could do was to make sure that they had a smooth ceremony and reception today. 

In keeping with that thought, God had made sure to put every protection in place on every venue that the Angels and their friends would be at today. Just on the off chance that any of Castiel's enemies got it into their heads to try and get cute today, God would ensure that the couple had their day and night of romance, undisturbed. 

There was one exception He did make, though. Once all the guests were assembled, God had let the protection on the cathedral slip just long enough to admit Castiel's brother. The King of Hell stood in the shadows in the rear of the cathedral. He just hadn't been able to resist the chance to see this for himself. 

Cas came out of a door to the side of the altar, with Dean and Sam right behind him. At the same time, the Pope came out to the altar, and the guests all rose. Then the music began to play, and Gail appeared in the centre aisle. Jody had spread the train of Gail's dress flat behind her, and then Jody took her place on one side of her sister-in-law, with Frank on the other side. When they had discussed the traditional way of coming down the aisle, Gail had expressed that she didn't like the idea of being "handed over" from one man to the other, like so much chattel. But she did like the idea of family accompanying her down the aisle, if for no other reason than for moral support. So she had asked both Frank and Jody to walk down the aisle with her, and then Frank would go over and stand with Cas, Sam and Dean. In another break from tradition, Gail did not have any bridesmaids, or even a Maid of Honour. Cas had not wanted to choose a Best Man from the three that were going to be standing with him, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. That debate had gone on for a while until Sam had pointed out, quite logically, that the Best Man and the Maid of Honour titles were generally assigned to the witnesses who signed the marriage license along with the bride and groom. As this ceremony was more of a spiritual matter, and not bound by Earth's laws, those designations were really a moot point. 

As Gail, Frank and Jody began to walk down the aisle, God nudged Crowley and whispered, "If you had conducted yourself differently, it could have been you standing down there with your Brother today." 

Crowley was startled for a moment, but then he gave a small shrug. Of course their Father would have come here to witness this. Castiel had always been His favourite. And yes, if things had gone another way, perhaps Crowley could have been there, standing up with Castiel. But the fact remained that it was still Castiel who was receiving the prize, wasn't it? So did it really matter, in the end? 

Gail's face was completely covered by the veil. She had acquiesced to tradition in this respect, partly because she'd wanted to pick her battles, and partly because it was comforting to her to have her face hidden right now. Everyone was staring at her coming down the aisle, and although they were all friendly faces, she wasn't used to having that many eyes on her all at once. 

But there was only one set of eyes that mattered to her right now, and they were bright blue, and shining with tears. Now she wished that her face wasn't covered, because she could see his, but he couldn't see hers. He looked so happy and excited. Cas had always looked good in a suit, and he was wearing the same suit he'd worn on the night of their first date. She couldn't believe it. This was actually happening. 

When they reached the altar, Frank and Jody sat down in the front pew beside Sam and Dean. Gail had handed her bouquet to Jody to hold, and now she and Cas moved forward to kneel in front of the Pope. Gail was thoroughly intimidated now. She was kneeling in front of the Pope in a grand cathedral in the Vatican, about to take sacred vows. She began to quiver. 

"Are you all right?" Cas asked her softly. 

"I don't know," Gail answered. "Suddenly, I'm really nervous." 

"Please don't be," he told her. "You'll be fine. You'll see." How he wished that he could see her face or take her hand. But it was too soon in the ceremony for that. 

"Family and friends, we are gathered here today for a very solemn, but also a very joyous occasion," Pope Francis announced. "The union of two Angels is always a cause for great celebration, and it is also something that we don't get a chance to see here on Earth. I feel privileged that they have asked me to be here today, to officiate and witness their marriage. And I am happy to see so many of their friends and family here today, to celebrate this day with them." 

He looked out at the guests and smiled, and the human guests smiled back, realizing what a special experience this was. 

"The couple wishes to express their own vows," the Pope continued. He gestured to Cas and Gail. "Please, proceed." 

Cas stood, but Gail remained kneeling. Cas reached down to lift the veil from her face, and both Crowley and God gasped when Gail remained on her knees. This was the moment in the traditional ceremony when the bride would vow obedience and subservience to her husband, and she would signify her intention to do so by remaining on her knees in front of him. Surely Gail hadn't agreed to that, had she? 

Once Castiel had removed the veil, he and Gail exchanged a look, and then they smiled at each other. Suddenly, Cas got down on his knees with Gail and faced her, taking her hands in his. 

"I vow obedience and subservience to you," Cas said to Gail, and she touched his face, smiling again. The guests exchanged glances, bemused. None of their friends or family realized what a shocking departure this was from tradition, but God broke into a wide smile. How wonderfully refreshing. That could actually be the best thing ever for His Son. No one knew Castiel's flaws better than his own Father did, and God thought it might benefit His Son immensely to be subservient to his wife. 

Crowley couldn't believe what he was hearing. He threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. It had taken millennia, but Castiel had finally lost it. But, deep down, Crowley was glad that Gail had not agreed to the ancient way. He also thought it would be good for Castiel to be the obedient one in the relationship, and he also knew that Gail was not the sort of woman who would ever take advantage. 

Cas and Gail rose to their feet together now, and they were still smiling at each other. When they had first discussed the possibility of turning the traditional vow completely inside out, Cas had pretty much been half-joking. But the more he'd thought about it, the more the idea had appealed to him. As far as he was concerned, he belonged to Gail, heart, mind, body and soul. What better way to promise his utter devotion to her than to vow his obedience and subservience to her, as well? He didn't want there to be the slightest concern left in her mind that he might ever be overbearing with her again. So he had pledged to her that he would make the vow. Now it was time for them to declare how they really felt about each other in front of their family and friends. 

Cas turned to face the guests. "When Gail and I decided to speak our own vows, we wanted to say words of love to each other." His lips twitched. "Most of you are used to us talking to each other this way, but if you will bear with us, we'd like to make it a matter of record." 

He faced Gail again, clearing his throat. "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride. So I love you because I know of no other way than this: Where I do not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close when mine do." 

Gail could feel her eyes starting to mist over already, but she replied, "For it was not into my ear that you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." 

Cas smiled. "You are all I need. For you, I give my soul to keep. For you, I am a better man. You are the reason for everything that I do. I would be completely lost without you." 

Then Gail said, "You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had. And no matter what happens to us in the future, every day that we are together is the greatest day of my life." 

Cas's voice was starting to grow thick with emotion, but he was determined to finish. "I have loved no one but you. And I never will." 

Gail answered, "And I vow the same. There is nothing you could ever do to lose my love." 

They joined hands and turned to look at the Pope, signaling to him that they were done. He was beaming. He'd never heard such romantic and beautifully poetic words spoken at a marriage ceremony before. 

"Have you got rings for each other?" Pope Francis asked them. 

Bobby stepped forward and handed them the rings. Cas slipped Gail's on her finger and Gail put Cas's on his. Then the Pope put his hands on top of theirs, blessing the rings, and said, "Therefore, what God had joined together, let not man or woman ever separate." 

And with that, the ceremony was over. Pope Francis smiled. "I think we would all be very pleased to see you kiss your wife, Castiel," he said. 

Cas took a deep breath, then another. He and Gail were married! He put his arms around her waist and kissed her on the mouth, and she kissed him back. It was their first kiss as husband and wife, and it was glorious. 

When they broke the kiss, smiling at each other, their guests broke into spontaneous applause, and Pope Francis joined in. 

"Go with my love and blessings," he said to the couple. Then he lowered his voice. "And good luck with Lucifer. I know you will do your utmost to rid the Earth of him, and I am sure you will prevail." 

They thanked him, then joined hands again and began to walk down the aisle, towards the back of the cathedral. God continued to watch the happy couple, but He remained invisible. Crowley snapped his fingers and disappeared. He'd seen what he'd come here to see. 

Once everyone was outside the church, they all milled around on the front steps, talking. A few of their friends were taking pictures, and now that the formality of the ceremony was over, everyone seemed a lot more relaxed, especially the bride and groom themselves. 

"So, what's the plan now?" Dean said to Cas. "How much longer are you going to make me wait until I can have my first drink?" 

"Actually, it was in deference to you that we planned an afternoon ceremony, rather than an evening one," Cas said to him. And it was true. When he had first broached the idea to Gail about having a candlelit evening service, she'd said, "Cas, that sounds lovely, but I think Dean might start foaming at the mouth if we make him wait that long for a drink." Cas told Dean this now, adding, "I certainly hope you appreciate that." 

"Yeah, Dean," Gail chimed in, laughing. 

"What are you serving at the reception?" Richard asked. He had walked up to the couple, Zoey and Nicole trailing behind him. 

"Loaves and fishes," Cas deadpanned. 

Frank clapped his hand on Cas's shoulder. "That is officially the funniest thing you have ever said. Ladies and gentlemen, my brand new brother-in-law." Frank put his hand out for Richard to shake, introducing himself. 

"Well, if Bobby can change water into wine, it's gonna be one hell of a party," Chuck quipped. 

"That DJ had better have some classic rock," Dean said to Gail. 

"Sorry, Dean," she teased. "Strictly pop music, and disco." 

He groaned. "You're killing me, Gail. You are officially killing me." 

"Maybe they'll have a couple of Christian rock songs for you," Ethan joked, and Dean did a double-take, trying to decide if that had been funny or not. 

Tommy patted Cas on the back. "We did have to alter the suit to accommodate his Angel wings, though," he said, trying to get in on the joking. Cas smiled broadly. If his friend only knew how humorous that really was. But that was a private matter for later, between him and his new bride. 

His bride. Cas looked at Gail now. The two of them had been physically separated for the moment by the group of well-wishers, and she was currently being hugged by Barry, who was helping her to untangle herself from the train of her dress, yet again. It was a beautiful dress, but Cas could see now that it wasn't very practical to move around in. He pushed his way through their friends to go to her side. 

"Would you like to change into something a little more comfortable for the reception, like Jody did?" Cas asked her, putting his arm around her waist. 

Gail smiled at him. "Becky informed me that this section with the train comes right off. I guess I should be embarrassed that I didn't know that." 

Becky smiled when they looked her way and waved at the couple. She was over the moon, not only because their wedding had been the most romantic thing she had ever seen, but because Gail was now officially off the market. Not that Becky had ever been genuinely worried about Gail getting together with Sam, she told herself. Still, it was good to know that it would now be entirely out of the question. 

"Just a few more pictures, and then we'll go over to the reception hall," Barry said. He asked Cas and Gail to pose on the top step of the cathedral. It really was a beautiful building. If this picture turned out well, Barry and Tommy were going to frame it and give it to their Angel friends to put on the mantel at their new home. 

Cas put his arms around Gail's waist and smiled for the picture. "How are you now?" he asked her. 

"Now?" she said. "Happy, giddy, ecstatic, relaxed. How about you?" 

"The same," he replied. "I still can't believe it, though." 

"What? That I'm your wife, and you're my husband?" she said, smiling. 

"Please say that again," Cas said, his arms tightening around her waist. 

"I'm your wife, and you're my husband," Gail repeated. "Even the Pope said so." 

Cas couldn't take it anymore. He spun her around and kissed her deeply. Her mouth opened, and his tongue found hers. "I love you," he told her. "And we're married." 

"I know," she replied. It was surreal to her, too. "We're husband and wife, Cas." 

"You need to stop saying that, or there'll be no reception," he quipped. "I'll just take you straight back to the hotel, instead." Then he kissed her on the mouth again. 

Their friends clapped and cheered, and Barry snapped a few more pictures of them kissing. Maybe they'd want a couple of those as well for their private album, he thought, amused. 

"OK, let's go party, already!" Dean exclaimed, and they all headed to the reception hall. 

Cas had given himself and Gail appetites for the reception, and they had filled their plates with food at the buffet. Gail had had the idea to have an Italian buffet, and the food was delicious. She'd argued, quite logically she had thought, that they would be in the very place where spaghetti and meatballs had originated, and she'd wanted to have some of both at her wedding. Sam could probably have debated with her about the place of origin of the dish, but he knew that had been one of her favourite foods when she'd been a human, and he had persuaded Cas that a buffet would be the best thing, even though Barry had been pushing for a sit-down dinner. 

After everyone ate, the toasts began. Champagne was poured all around, and all of their friends took turns toasting the couple. Finally, Cas got up and thanked everyone, raising his glass to all of them. "I am the happiest, and the luckiest, man in this or any other world," Cas told them. He looked at Gail, and the huge lump that had been hovering there all day formed in his throat now. "I will do anything for you. I would give you anything, if you would so much as ask me for it." Then his throat closed, and he choked up. 

Cas was losing it. Frank stood up, raising his glass. "I would advise my sister to get that in writing," he quipped. 

"Yeah. Cas is the only guy I know who actually could get her the moon and stars if she wanted them," Dean joked. He lifted his glass too, and he and Frank finished the toast that Cas had been unable to. 

Cas sat down and Gail touched his face. "I know, sweetie," she said. "I feel overcome with emotion, too. That's why I didn't get up to speak. I don't think I could, right now." 

Then she kissed him on the cheek, and then on the lips, and Cas smiled at her gratefully. She understood him, and she didn't mind that his emotions overtook him sometimes. He truly was very lucky to have her as a mate. 

Then it was time for the first dance, and Cas led Gail to the floor. He had learned how to waltz centuries ago, and he still remembered how. He led Gail around the floor, and his arm tightened around her waist when she faltered. 

"I've never danced like this before, Cas," she said nervously. "I guess we should have practiced." 

"That's all right, just let me lead you. In a moment, it'll feel like our feet aren't even on the ground," Cas assured her. Then he held her again, and then they were twirling around on the floor. Gail was looking into Cas's eyes, which were bright blue, and twinkling. "See?" he said to her, and she realized that he was right. She couldn't even feel her feet right now. They were moving so naturally together that she didn't even feel awkward any more. 

Then the dance was over, and they moved around the room, visiting with their guests. Frank and Jody were dancing now, and so were Dean and Nicole. Barry and Tommy were talking to Robbie, who was dressed in a suit and acting very grown-up. He had matured quite a bit in the last few months. Maybe it was the type of environment he was growing up in, with so many adult male role models, but Robbie seemed to have put some of his childish things away. He didn't really play much anymore, nor did he yell and jump around. In a way, it was a shame, really. 

Richard and Zoey were talking to Chuck and Becky, and Bobby and Patricia were sipping on a quiet glass of champagne. 

"Congratulations," Patricia said to the couple. "I was glad to see some nods to the old ways in your ceremony today. Although, I thought it was a little too irreverent when you included that little joke about obeying your wife, Castiel," she added a little stiffly. "But, each to their own, I suppose." 

Cas smiled at her. "It wasn't a joke." 

Patricia had been taking another small sip of champagne, and she sputtered now. "You can't be serious," she said incredulously. 

"I can, and I am," Cas told her, squeezing Gail's hand. "I meant what I said." 

"But, the man isn't supposed to be subservient to the woman," Patricia protested. "That isn't what God intended." 

"Are you telling us you think that the woman should be subservient to the man?" Gail asked her, astonished. She'd known that Patricia was an old-school, old-fasioned Angel, but she was also a woman, and she was on the board in Heaven. And, Patricia had been one of the first to join the group of Angels who had rebelled against Xavier during the tribunal. 

"Yes. In the final analysis, I do believe that is the way that things should naturally be," Patricia replied. "I may feel free to express my opinion, but if Bobby were to disagree, I would have to defer to him." 

Gail restrained herself from rolling her eyes by taking another sip of champagne. Wow. Now, Gail was suddenly wondering if Patricia was going to be a problem for her in the future. Once the situation with Lucifer was resolved, Gail had been planning to take womens' rights even further in Heaven, and now she was worried that she might face some opposition from Patricia. 

But that was a thought for another day. Today was Gail's wedding day, and she was going to focus on that. 

"Are you two going to cut the cake soon?" Frank asked them. "I think we need to shove a piece of cake into Robbie's face and then get him to bed." 

"Yeah, he's been amazingly well-behaved, but he's still on American time, and I think we have to get him back to our room before he blows that all to hell," Jody said, smiling. 

"We can take him, if you like," Barry offered. 

"No, you guys haven't even danced yet," Jody said. "We'll feed him the cake, we'll take him, and then we'll come back." 

Cas and Gail cut the wedding cake and started passing it out, and she noticed there was a wrapped present sitting on the table beside the cake. It had no card with it. 

"Where do you suppose this came from?" Gail asked Cas. He gave her a half-shrug. He had no idea. 

"We'll take it over to the house for you, if you want," Barry offered. 

"Thanks, that would be great," Gail told him. "Cas and I are staying in a hotel here in Rome tonight, and then we'll be going to the house in the morning." She squeezed Cas's hand. And then, they would have to go back and talk to Linda, to see if she had the location of the next Tablet. But they had mutually agreed not to bring that up today. Today was a day for joy, and for love. 

They had one more drink together, then Gail danced with a few of the men, and then she threw her bouquet, and Barry caught it. There was some good-natured joking about that. Then, when Cas removed the garter from Gail's thigh and tossed it, Dean caught it. He walked up to Tommy and stuffed it into the breast pocket of Tommy's jacket, and everyone laughed. 

Then the night was winding down, and Cas and Gail were looking at each other. 

"This has been a lot of fun, but I want to be alone with you now," Cas told her softly. "Do you mind?" 

"Do I mind?" she repeated, smiling. "I've been trying to figure out how we could sneak out of here for about an hour now." 

He laughed and took her by the hand. They walked around the room, saying goodnight to all of their friends, and then they winked to their hotel room. 

"I've missed you these past couple of weeks," Cas said, trying to keep his voice steady. "How have you been?" He took off his suit jacket and draped it on the chair in front of the desk. 

Gail stood there looking at him. Her lips twitched. "That's your opening line? How have I been? Really?" 

Cas turned his head to look at her, and he smiled, too. "I thought for once I could try to act cool," he told her. "But I guess that's not going to work." 

"I don't want you to be cool. I want you to be you," Gail said to him. "The guy I married wouldn't be cool at all. He would be losing it." 

Cas rushed to her, putting his arms around her. "I am losing it," he confirmed. "I'm extremely excited." 

"I can tell," Gail quipped. 

Cas was so excited he was actually trembling. "It's our wedding night," he breathed. He kissed her on the forehead, the cheek, and the neck. He took a deep breath. "I'm going to try very hard not to cry again," he murmured, and she laughed. "Now, that's the Cas I love," Gail said, holding his head against her neck. 

Then he was kissing her on the lips, and his tongue was in her mouth, and he unzipped her dress. She stepped out of it, and Cas picked it up, draping it lovingly over his jacket on the chair. Then he came back to Gail and scooped her up, laying her down on the bed. He kissed and caressed her, slowly taking off her underwear. But when she reached down for him, he shook his head. 

"I beg your indulgence," Cas said to her. He took off his shirt and his pants, but he avoided her touch. 

"Please allow me to make love to you as my wife for the first time," Cas said to her. "Please lay back for me, my love." 

He began to kiss her all over, and then he gently pulled her down to the end of the bed. Then he got down on his knees on the floor and said, "Can you please close your eyes, Gail? Then, when you start to get the feeling, grab on tight to my hands. Please, trust me." 

He bent to her and began to lick her delicately, and she held his head, whimpering. Because they hadn't been intimate in a while, Gail started to get excited immediately, and she closed her eyes as he had requested. 

Cas was watching her closely. He hadn't wanted to put any pressure on her, or make her feel uneasy in any way, but now he was looking eagerly, to see if they would appear. 

"Cas, I feel funny," she told him. "My back..." 

"It's all right, Gail," he said excitedly. "Hold on to my hands and feel me making love to you. Please, trust me." 

So she grabbed on to his hands, and he continued to make love to her with his tongue. "Please, just concentrate on me, and how I make you feel," Cas murmured. "I love you more than anything in the world. Please, Gail, let them come." 

Gail felt the warm rush between her legs and as she cried out, she heard a sound behind her. 

Cas murmured, "Open your eyes." She did, and she looked in the mirror that was above the bureau across from the bed. Her mouth dropped open in shock. The strange sensation she'd felt in her back had been her Angel wings, coming out. 

Cas rose from his knees and took her by the hands, leading her over to the mirror. "They're beautiful," he said softly. She stared at herself. Her wings were fluffy, and bright white. "They're perfect," Cas told her, smiling. "Just as you are." 

He embraced her, and then he began to gently caress her wings. It was a strange sensation, but it felt extremely intimate. Cas kissed her, using his tongue, and continued to caress her wings. Gail shuddered. "How do you feel?" he asked her softly. "Loved," she answered simply, and he smiled. 

"What about yours?" Gail asked him, and his hands froze for a moment. 

"We'll have to find out," he told her. "I hope you won't be disappointed. After everything I've done, I hope that they are still in good enough condition." 

"I'm sure they'll be beautiful," she insisted. "Please, Cas, I want to see them." 

He was nervous. Her wings were so pristine, and he was afraid that his would be so damaged that they wouldn't measure up. Gail could see the look of trepidation on his face. 

"Please, Cas," she said again. "I want to see them. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it together. Okay?" 

He smiled down at her. He had to admit, he was really curious to see, as well. "Okay," he said. He led her back to the bed and now he was the one to sit on the edge. 

"If you don't mind doing the same thing with me that I just did with you, we'll find out," Cas said to Gail. She nodded, kneeling down and taking him in her mouth. Cas had been very nervous, but as soon as she did that, he began to get very excited. He could feel her lips and her tongue, and as he looked down at her, Cas could see Gail's wings rippling, and then they began to caress his legs. He closed his eyes and moaned. She was so wonderful, so good to him. 

Then he opened his eyes and looked down at her again, and the nerves returned. "You're so perfect," he told her. "I don't deserve you." 

Gail stopped what she was doing immediately and looked up at him. "No," she said sternly. "I don't want to hear you talk like that again, ever. We've worked too long and too hard on ourselves to think like that anymore, Cas. We're married now, Cas, and I married you because I love you, and because you ARE perfect. Perfect for me. So, just think of how much I love you. You and I are married now, and we'll never be apart again. Please watch me making love to you, Cas, and please, touch my wings. I love it when you do that." 

She resumed what she'd been doing, and Cas reached down and touched her head, tentatively. Then he stroked her wings, and she made a sound in her throat. The vibration from that sound coupled with what she was doing excited Cas, and he began to cry out. He could feel his wings come in, and he opened his eyes and looked in the mirror. He called out Gail's name as his wings spread out. They were soft, and black in colour, and they were intact. Cas started to cry. 

Gail lifted her body up to embrace him, and she was astonished when he saw his wings. "Cas, they're magnificent," she said softly, and she kissed the tears from his cheeks. Cas wrapped his arms around her waist, and his wings enfolded her. They caressed her wings softly, and her wings rippled again. 

"Cas," she said. Her body shuddered again. 

"Yes?" he said, smiling. Now his wings were caressing her face, and her body. 

"That feels..." she started to say, and he kissed her. Now his tongue was dancing with hers, his hands were touching her, and his wings were caressing hers, and stroking her bare skin. This was a whole new level of love and intimacy, and she gave up trying to put it into words. 

Cas kissed her neck, and she moaned. Then his wings stroked her softly, and she giggled. He kissed her on the mouth again, using his tongue, and said, "Now, we'll make love for the first time together, as husband and wife, and when our wings start to interlace, you will be able to see my true appearance, if you so choose." 

Gail looked at him. "Your true appearance?" she repeated. 

"Yes. My true self, as I really am. My vessel will fade, and you will see only me. If you become frightened, just focus on my eyes," he told her. 

Now he wished he hadn't added that. She really did want to see his true self, but she looked at him, wide-eyed. "Why would I be frightened, Cas?" she asked him. 

He gave her a gentle smile. "Perhaps that was a poor choice of words. Maybe I should have said...overwhelmed. Anyway, just focus on the blue of my eyes. You don't have to look upon me if you don't want to." 

But now, she was more curious than anything else, and she was excited, too. He was truly opening himself up to her now, showing her his ultimate trust. They were already so close and so intimate now, and this sounded like an opportunity for them to take it one step further. She was anxious to see him as no one had ever seen him before, except for God, maybe. Of course she wanted to see the real him. So she said, "Please, show me yourself, Cas." 

He kissed her slowly, entering her at the same time. He moved in and out of her, and then she could feel his wings interlacing with hers. After a few minutes, Gail began to whimper. Cas's face and body began to vanish from her sight. She could still feel him making love to her, but now it had become just as much of an intellectual and spiritual experience as it was a physical one. Gail's mind and heart and heart started to fill with love for Castiel, and the room began to glow bright blue and gold, a mixture of their essences. 

Cas's vessel had disappeared now, and Gail knew she was about to see his real self. She was a little afraid, but she just had to see. She looked beyond the blue of his eyes, and the feeling that came over her when she did was so intense that she started to cry. He was ancient, and he was new. He was all of history, infinite and forever. He was awesome. He was everything. 

"You're beautiful, Castiel!" she cried out. Tears were flowing from her eyes now, and Castiel smiled. His essence glowed, so bright that they both had to close their eyes for a moment. 

Castiel took her hand and drew it to his true being. Now she was touching his real heart, and his real soul. She moved her fingers, gently stroking him, and then she leaned forward, kissing him there. That took him by surprise, and he cried out her name in total ecstasy. Then he began to weep, but his tears were tears of pure joy now. 

Gail was still crying too, and then they lay spent, crying in each others' arms. 

As the Angels lay in their wedding bed, having consummated their union, several things happened simultaneously. 

The moment that Castiel called out his bride's name, all of the church bells and clocks in the world chimed at the same time, just for an instant. 

Metatron was still in Egypt, and he had been sitting out on the terrace enjoying a nightcap. He lifted his glass in a silent toast. Good for them. Good for them. 

Crowley was passed out on the couch in his office in Hell. He had attempted to bind her to him in a couple of different ways, but in the end, Castiel had been the victor, as he always was. Once Crowley had seen them take their vows, he had come straight here and locked himself in, drinking until he finally passed out. His dreams were uneasy, alternating between fantasies of love and hatred, revenge and redemption. 

Lucifer was angry, and a little bit scared, too. The Angels were wed now, and they had two Tablets already. He had no idea where they were going or what they would be doing next, but he knew that their resolve would be even stronger now, as well as their bond. He would have to step up his efforts to intimidate and frighten their group. If he could get them to fragment, perhaps the Angels would lose focus. 

And Heaven suddenly burst into colour. The Angels all stopped whatever they happened to be doing and looked around, open-mouthed, as the pure white changed into everyday colours, everywhere they looked. Chuck sat in the library, and when he saw it, he began to laugh. He may not know the particulars exactly, but he didn't need to be a Prophet to have an idea of what might have caused it. And for the first time in a long time, Chuck did not feel any jealousy or resentment towards the couple. 

It truly was a magical night. 

Gail was looking at Cas, who was wiping the tears away from her cheeks with his thumbs, even as he was sniffling back his own. 

"I had no idea," she was saying dazedly. "I had no idea that was who you really were. I knew I loved you, and I knew that you were beautiful. But you're so special, Cas, so unique, so wonderful..." She ran out of superlatives. 

Cas was smiling. "No one who has ever seen my true visage before has ever called me beautiful," he said shyly. 

"Well, they're obviously blind, then," Gail said firmly. 

Their wings were disengaging slowly from their interlacing now, and once Cas's wings were free, he used them to brush the hair gently from her forehead, and then he tickled her cheek with them. Gail laughed softly, and she kissed him gently on the lips. 

"Thank you for showing me your true self, and for loving me enough to trust me to touch you there," Gail said to him. "I have never felt so loved, and so loving, in my entire existence." 

"I told you our wedding night would be special, did I not?" Cas said, pleased by what she was saying. 

"Yes, you did, Cas," she agreed softly. "And you were certainly right about that." 

Castiel pulled her close to him. He felt sorry for their human friends, in a way. They could make love all they wanted, but they could never achieve this type of intimacy and closeness with one another. Well, not as humans, anyway. Now that the ancient laws had been revised, Angels could enjoy being intimate with each other in the bedroom if they so chose. But his and Gail's experience had been even more special because they shared the sacred bond of matrimony now. He was so glad that she had discovered her wings, and he was overjoyed that not only did he still have his, but they were in the best condition he had ever seen them. He was sure that was directly due to Gail's love. 

Castiel closed his eyes and kissed Gail softly on the forehead. His wings were still caressing hers, and she was sighing contentedly. Her eyes were closed too, and she was enjoying the sensation. What a sweet, strange feeling. Then his wings started to caress her bare skin, and then they touched her intimately. "Is this all right?" Cas asked her, and she nodded, wide-eyed. "It feels nice, Cas," she told him. Nice? he thought. "How about now?" he said, smiling, as his wings began to gently stroke her. Gail gasped. "Cas," she breathed. "I can't..." 

His mouth came down on hers, and his tongue sought her tongue. He continued to stroke her with his wings, faster and faster, and he licked her tongue. Her body jerked, and she clung to him, crying out in joy. Cas smiled. "I love you with everything I have, and everything I am," he told her. 

Gail reached out for him and began to stroke him lightly with her fingertips. Then she rose and guided him into her, moving up and down on top of him. His hands caressed her body and her wings, and they moved their bodies faster, together. 

"I love you, my husband," Gail said, smiling down at his face. 

"What did you say?" he asked her, returning her smile. 

"You're my husband, and I'm your wife, and I love you more than anything," Gail told him. 

Cas wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down to kiss him. When their tongues came together, he moaned, pushing deeply into her. She stroked his wings and contracted her muscles at the same time. Cas whimpered and pushed once more, and then he was still. 

He wrapped his wings around her body as she lay on top of him, and he sighed in contentment. "Just when I think that I could not possibly love you any more, I very happily discover that I was wrong," Cas said, kissing Gail on her forehead. She lay her head on his chest and smiled. 

Cas opened his eyes and looked around the room. He wished they could just stay here for days. If they did not have their mission, they actually could. But he thought he'd seen a bit of light creeping into the night sky when he looked out the window, and Cas realized that their wedding night would be over soon. Already. How fleeting time was, even for otherworldly beings. Maybe even especially for otherworldly beings, in a strange sort of way. 

He unfolded his wings slowly from her body and said, "Let's enjoy each other's wings for a few more moments, and then we will put them away for now." 

Gail lifted her head from his chest and kissed him on the lips as he gently caressed her wings. "I wish I could control mine, like you do yours," she said to him. "I would love to hug you and caress you with them, just like you did with me." She touched his wings with her fingers admiringly. "Your wings are beautiful, Cas. Just like you are." 

He smiled, pleased by her compliment. "It's you who is beautiful," he said, stroking her wings once more. They rippled in response, and his smile widened. She may not be able to control them yet, but he didn't care. He loved to see that spontaneous reaction. He had never seen anything quite like it. But then again, there was no one like Gail, in this world or any other, so it was only appropriate. 

"How DO we put our wings away, anyway?" Gail asked him. She smiled mischievously. "I'm really hoping you're going to tell me that the method is very similar to the one we used to make them appear." 

Cas laughed, stroking her cheek with his hand. "I wish that I could," he replied. "When they appeared tonight, it was due to the fact that we are married now. But now that they have come out once, we can bring them out any time we like." 

Gail raised an eyebrow. Interesting. Maybe they could bring their wings out once in a while, then, on special occasions. The extra layer of intimacy they'd experienced tonight had been truly amazing. 

"Putting our wings away will be very easy," Cas continued. "Just visualize folding them up neatly and putting them away in a box." 

"That's it?" Gail said, surprised. 

"Yes, that's it," he replied. "Here. Let me show you." Cas closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and a moment later, his wings were gone. 

Gail closed her eyes and did as he had instructed. It took a couple of minutes in her case, but her wings did eventually disappear. 

"There," Cas said softly. "Now, come here, please." His arms tightened around her, and he pulled her gently up to kiss him. 

"Hold that thought," Gail told him. "Believe it or not, I'm thirsty. I'm going to get a drink of water. Do you want any?" She rolled off the bed to walk to the bathroom as Cas said, "Gail, no..." But she had already taken a couple of steps away from the bed. Suddenly, the room went sideways, and Gail reeled. Cas leapt off the bed and caught her in his arms. 

"After the intensity of what we've just experienced, I think you need to rest for a bit," he told her, carrying her back to the bed. He laid her down and drew the covers over her. "I'll get the water for you." He walked to the bathroom and she noted with some amusement that he was tottering a little, himself. Cas brought her back a glass of water and got back into bed with her. She sipped at it gratefully, then gave him back the glass. He took a small sip, then set the glass on the nightstand. 

"Let's cuddle for a bit," Cas suggested. "I don't want to spoil the mood, but I think we do have to talk for a minute about the next step for the mission. Once morning is officially here, we must return to the States and resume our search for the Tablets." Then he frowned. "I'm very sorry that I won't be able to take you on a proper honeymoon right now. I'll make it up to you, Gail. I promise that I will." 

But Gail was smiling. "Cas, we've been to Egypt, and now we're in Rome. We're pretty much on it, right now. How many women get to go to all these exotic locations, and have these kinds of adventures? Not to mention the most romantic wedding day and night anyone could ever ask for." 

Cas gave her a squeeze. That was just another of the many reasons he loved and appreciated her so much. After all of the unpleasantness she had experienced in Egypt, she was making the whole thing sound like a romantic escapade now. "We'll take our things to our brand new home, and we'll open the wedding gift we received last night," he told her. "At least I can give you that much in the way of tradition, anyway. Oh, and Barry pressed an envelope into my hand last night that I'm pretty sure contains some money from all our guests. So we'll have to decide what we're going to do with that. Perhaps you'll want something for our home that Barry hasn't already provided. In any event, we'll pop in for a quick visit, and then we're going to have to go back to Quinn's and speak with Linda again." 

"Well, at least we already have two out of the five Tablets," Gail remarked. She looked at Cas with a half-smile. "I don't suppose there's any use hoping that the next Tablet will be as easy to obtain as the Heaven Tablet was, is there?" 

Castiel frowned briefly. "That would be nice, but I highly doubt it. The closer we get to our goal, the more agitated Lucifer is going to become. I'm sure he knows we have two of them already. He's always known things he has no business knowing." His arms tightened around Gail, as if to protect her. 

"But until we have to leave our marriage bed, let us not talk of Lucifer any more. This is our wedding night, and I want the only words spoken here to be words of love," Cas told her softly. "If there need to be any words at all." He began to kiss her face and her neck, and then he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her wrist, then licked it. Gail drew in a breath. She couldn't remember him ever having done that before, and it was sexy. Cas smiled at her, and then he leaned forward and licked her neck slowly, up and down. Then, when he reached her chest, he gently licked her breasts. She started making her sounds, and Cas said, "Please come here with me, Gail." He lifted her body on top of his and positioned her in front of his mouth. Then she bent down to take him in her mouth. He pulled her down towards his lips and put his tongue inside of her. "Cas," she murmured. He smiled. He knew by now that that was her way of telling him that she liked what he was doing. He moved his tongue in and out of her as she made love to him with her lips and her tongue, and they both moved together, enjoying how they were making each other feel. 

"I love you, my husband," Gail said, and Cas moaned. Between what she was saying and what she was doing to him, he wasn't sure which excited him more. He felt the warm rush as he pushed forward, and he cried out, "I love you, my wife!" 

Gail felt the warm rush too, and when they were both still, she climbed off of him and he cradled her in his arms. "I wish we could just stay here, and lock the world away," she said, kissing his chest. 

"So do I, my love," Cas replied softly, stroking her hair. The room was filling up with light now from the early morning sun, and he felt sad that their wedding night was already over. But they were husband and wife now, and that was incredibly exciting to Castiel. As far as he was concerned, the adventure was just beginning. 

Gail saw the sunshine streaming in the window too, and she sighed. "I guess it's time for me to head to the shower," she said. She raised herself up on one elbow and touched Cas's face. "Yesterday was the best, most incredible day of my life," she told him. 

"Every day will be just as wonderful, now that we're married," Cas said to her. He kissed her hand. "Even though we'll face lots of challenges, I'm sure, we'll face them together." 

She leaned down and kissed him on the mouth, and Cas gave her his tongue immediately. For one crazy moment, he thought about rolling Gail onto her back and making love to her again, then again, all day long. He could keep her here with him, safe and warm in his arms, forever. If she even thought about getting out of this bed for any reason at all, he would just kiss her and lick her all over, making her cry out his name. And he would cry out hers, too. Why should they ever have to leave their marriage bed? 

But of course, that wasn't who they were. They couldn't just think of themselves, not when the Devil himself was out there. So Cas kissed her one more time, and then he let her go. 

Cas sat up in bed while Gail was in the shower. He looked over at the closed bathroom door, smiling warmly. He was thinking of the moment when Gail had touched and then kissed his true self, and of what she had said afterwards. "She thinks I'm beautiful," he said aloud, dazedly. "Me." Castiel had to be the luckiest entity in this or any other universe.


	3. Arrivederci, Roma

Cas was taking his shower now, and Gail was packing their bags. They didn't have much, just a couple of changes of clothes. She left out a fresh set for him to put on and then packed the rest of his clothes, and hers too. She smiled as she walked around the room, checking the floor. She was reliving last night in her mind, and the sight of their clothes strewn around the floor made her want to lay down on the bed and wait for him to get out of the shower so he could remove the ones she had on now and do it all over again. But she dutifully continued to pack. Now that they were married, they would have lots of chances for more nights like that, wouldn't they? 

She checked the pocket of his suit jacket before she packed it and sure enough, there was the envelope, stuffed with money. They would have to figure out what to do with it. Suddenly, she had an inspiration. They would have to talk about it later. She transferred the envelope to the blazer he usually wore and packed his suit. 

When he came out of the shower, everything was ready for them to go. Gail was looking out the window at the city below. It was funny, really; they'd hardly seen any of the sights here. But of course, that was not what they had come here for. 

"Thank you for packing for us," Cas said to her. "Did you get everything?" 

"I think so," she replied, still looking out the window. 

"Do you think you could check?" he asked her, and she looked at him. He was standing by the bed, fresh from the shower, and he was smiling charmingly at her. 

"Noooo, I think I'd better just stay over here until you're dressed and ready to leave," she told him, her lips twitching. 

"That's likely the most sensible approach," he said, still smiling. 

Gail smiled, shaking her head. "Great. Now that I'm an old, married lady, I'm sensible now, too. Talk about boring." 

"You could never be boring," Cas told her. "Come here, please." 

She raised an eyebrow. "How about if you put one or two items of clothing on, first?" 

"All right, I will," Cas said, nodding. He sat down on the bed and put his socks on, and then he stood back up and looked at her. "There." 

She burst out laughing, then she walked over to the bed. "You are too cute," she said to him, putting her arms around his neck. "Okay, one kiss, and then we'd better get going." 

"Well, all right. I wasn't actually planning to kiss you, but I did vow to be obedient, after all," Cas quipped. He kissed her on the mouth, wrapping his arms around her. His tongue parted her lips and went looking for hers, and she sighed, giving it to him. Who was she kidding? She might be trying to be sensible, but she wasn't looking to make a career out of it. 

"I love you, Cas," she said softly. She was caressing his back, and his arms tightened around her. "But either you need to put some more clothes on, or I'm going to have to give up and ask you to take mine off again," she breathed. "I'm only human, you know." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know what I mean," she said, smiling. 

Cas smiled back and kissed her once more, then he let go of her and began to get dressed. "I've done very many difficult things in my life, but this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," he told her, putting his pants on. He raised his eyebrows to her again. "Just so you know." 

"Oh, I do know," Gail said. "Believe me, I know exactly what you mean." 

Once he was dressed, Cas took one more look around the room to make sure they hadn't left anything behind. Gail told him what she had done with the envelope, and he patted his blazer pockets to make sure it and his blade were there. He looked down at Gail. "Are you ready to go?" 

She sighed. "No. But, yes," she answered him. Cas smiled and took her hand. "We'll have many, many other times like we did yesterday," he told her. "I'll make sure of it." Then he kissed her hand and winked them home. 

Cas took the key to their house out of the envelope that Barry had given him and unlocked the front door. He put their bags down and looked at Gail. 

"Care to indulge me in another tradition?" he said, and then he scooped her off her feet. He carried her into the house and she laughed, kissing him on the cheek. 

He set her on her feet in the living room and they looked around. "Cas, it's wonderful," she enthused. Barry had done a terrific job. The furniture was tasteful but comfortable-looking, and it looked to Gail as if they had everything they could possibly need, and then some. She raced through the rooms, looking around at everything. It was amazing. She couldn't possibly have done a better job herself. 

When she got to the master bedroom, Gail gasped. There was a big-screen TV on the wall across from the bed, the pictures of the actors from Supernatural were hung on another wall, and the photos of her and Cas in Las Vegas were propped up against the lamps on the nightstands. 

"I wanted you to feel at home," Cas said softly from behind her. "So I asked Barry to set things up this way." 

Suddenly, she was overcome with emotion. "Oh, Cas," she said, throwing her arms around him. "It's perfect. It's us." 

He embraced her fiercely. It was going to be completely different here, different than the house they'd had before. She had been right, as usual. This house was going to be filled with love. 

"I'll go get our bags," he told her. "Then we'll go to the bunker for a few minutes, and then we'll give Quinn a call." Cas went back out to the front porch, and Gail wandered back into the living room. Then she noticed the wrapped wedding present sitting on the dining room table. 

When Cas came back in with the bags, she pointed out the present to him. "Remember this? Barry must have brought it here for us last night, or this morning. Let's open it." 

Cas put the bags down and approached the table. He picked up the box and examined it. "There's no card or tag on it," he remarked. Then he frowned. "I wonder who it's from." 

Gail's brow furrowed. "I just assumed it was from one of our friends. Why? Do you think it's suspicious?" 

"It's just a little odd that there's nothing on it to identify who or where it came from," he mused. 

"I don't suppose one of your powers is X-ray vision," she quipped. 

Cas smiled briefly. "I don't believe there's any real danger. Still, if you don't mind, I'll be the one to open it." He tore open the paper, and then opened the box. 

There were two golden candlesticks inside, and as Cas lifted them out of the box, a note fell out. Gail picked it up. She read it and began to smile. 

"They're from Pope Francis," she told Cas. "The note says that they're for our new home. He says as long as they remain in the home, it'll be protected against all forms of evil." Gail smiled. "That was sweet of him." 

"I already put all the standard protections on this place, but I appreciate the extra help," Cas told her. 

"Me, too," Gail agreed. She hadn't forgotten that Lucifer had just waltzed into the bunker that day, even though none of them had thought that he could. Which made her think. 

"You know what we should do?" she said to Cas. "Let's keep one of them here in the house and take the other one to the bunker with us. I can't think of any place I'd like to see protected against evil more than there." 

Cas smiled. "That's a wonderful idea, Gail," he said. He also remembered Lucifer having been able to enter the bunker that day, and the thought still made his blood run cold. It was comforting to know that both houses would have the extra protection now. The further along they got on their Tablet missions, the more defensive Lucifer would become, and he wasn't exactly the type of individual that would turn tail and run. They would have to be very, very careful, from now on. 

Lucifer knew that they had two of the Tablets now, and he wasn't happy about it. He'd known that they were after the Earth Tablet in Egypt, but he hadn't been able to get near it. Now they had the Heaven Tablet, and he hadn't even known they were going for it until it was too late. And the Angels had had their romantic wedding now, and their sizzling hot wedding night. The score was getting very lopsided. It was time for him to remind them of who they were really dealing with. 

He called Mark, and told him to send Paul in. Paul strode into the library room, looking around. He'd never been to Lucifer's base of operations before. Typical. Satan had set himself up in the lap of luxury, while his employees, for lack of a better term, were hanging around on the streets, just waiting for the word to come down. But they had been waiting for a long time now, and Paul was frustrated. 

"What's going on?" he said to Lucifer. "I'm out there with all the Demons waiting for your instructions, and you're sitting here doing what, exactly? Drinking cognac and catching up on your reading?" 

Lucifer glared at Paul. This Demon had forgotten his place. "I'll tell you what," he said to Paul. "How about if you go out and come back in, then speak to me with the respect that I deserve? And if you can't do that, you can very easily be replaced. Maybe I'll cut off your head and send it to Crowley. And I could use a new rug for in front of the fireplace. Your skin tone would go very well with the decor." 

Paul felt a chill of fear go through him. He'd let his anger run his mouth, but even though he was frustrated with Lucifer, he knew that the guy was no one to screw around with. "My apologies, Sir," Paul said quickly. "I meant no disrespect. I merely spoke out of frustration. I don't feel that we are doing enough to help you with your goals, and I'm eager to be of service to you." 

There. That should be deferential enough. Truthfully, even though Paul knew that his boss was an entity to be feared, he was starting to lose a little respect for him. Lucifer had talked a big game when he was The Rev, but ever since he had holed himself up in this mansion, he had done nothing. Armageddon had stalled, and there were rumours that Castiel was spearheading some kind of initiative to defeat Lucifer, and that he and his team were making progress with that. And, really, what were Lucifer's goals, anyway? He didn't seem to have any sort of a plan at all. 

"Fine," Lucifer snapped. Paul was speaking to him with the proper respect now, but why did he get the feeling that the Demon was only giving him lip service, saying what he thought he wanted to hear? His eyes narrowed as he looked at Paul. "So you're eager for Armageddon, are you?" 

Paul's black eyes sparkled. "Let's just say there are a lot of humans and Angels who are begging to be released from their burdens." 

"What's your agenda, Paul?" Lucifer asked him curiously. 

Paul was caught off guard. "Say what?" he blurted out. 

"Crowley sent you to spy on me - " Lucifer started to say, and Paul tried to protest, but Lucifer waved his hand and Paul's mouth snapped shut. "You can't con a con man," Lucifer continued. "Crowley sent you to Earth to spy on me and report back to him, but you decided to defect, instead. Tired of working for 'the man'. I get that, I really do. But now here you are, supposedly eager to serve me. Well, aren't I 'the man', too? What's the difference? What's in it for you, Paul?" 

"The difference is, I think you have a pretty good shot at winning," Paul told him. "And I like to be on a winning team." 

"Is that it? Or is there something more?" Lucifer persisted. 

Paul shrugged. "Maybe I want to see a few of them suffer. Or, a lot of them. The way I've had to suffer for most of my existence, because of who and what my father was, and because of peoples' perceptions of us." 

Lucifer turned his back on Paul and rolled his eyes. Here it came. Years and years of oppression, blah, blah, blah. He should try being Lucifer sometime. Cast down by his own Father and locked away in a cage to rot for eternity. Heaven's dirty little secret. Well, Raphael may not have deserved to die the way he did, but it had been his arrogant attitude that had really been his undoing. And his kid seemed to think that the world owed him everything too, for some reason. 

But Lucifer did like what he had said about people suffering, and he was pretty sure he knew who would be on the top of Paul's list. So he turned back around. "Set up a meeting with Crowley," he told Paul. 

Paul looked at him incredulously. "Why would I want to do that? He knows I've turned, now." 

"Yes, but he's been way too helpful to the Angels," Lucifer replied. "It's time he was reminded of who he really is, and which side he should be on. Tell him I've got something he wants, and then bring him here to meet with me. Maybe we can do a little business. If he'll play ball, maybe we can get him to deliver the Angels to us." 

"And what do you have that he would want?" Paul asked curiously. 

Lucifer smiled. "Why, his mother, of course." 

Rowena looked up from her makeup mirror, startled. Would Lucifer just give her up to Crowley, just like that? But he was the Devil, wasn't he? What did she expect? She had outlived her usefulness here, at least as far as Lucifer was concerned. But Rowena wasn't playing the game for him, she was playing it for herself. She'd never needed a man in order to accomplish her goals, whatever they may be, and she didn't need one now. She threw her magic mirror into her bag and quietly left the house. 

Cas and Gail were in the bunker, receiving hugs and congratulations. 

"Thank you for the house," Gail said to Barry. "It's fantastic! You did such a wonderful job. I can't think of one thing we need." 

"I'm glad," he said to them. "We both wanted you to have a nice place to come home to." 

"Well, we do, thanks to you," Cas remarked. "And, speaking of which..." He handed the candlestick to Dean, explaining where it had come from and its purpose. "If you keep this here, the bunker will be impenetrable." 

"Thanks, Cas," Sam said, impressed. "And you have the other one at your place?" 

"Yes," Cas replied. "And now we have the safest two places on Earth." 

"Yeah. And now, we're going to be leaving them, to look for more Tablets," Sam said, grinning. 

Dean shrugged. "What else is new? So, where to next, you guys?" 

"We don't know, yet," Cas replied. "We're going to give Quinn a call and see if we can go over there immediately. We'll talk to Linda again, and once we get the information, we'll let you know." 

Frank walked into the room, carrying a cup of coffee. "I thought I heard you two out here. So, how's married life so far?" 

Cas took Gail's hand, looking at her warmly. "It's wonderful." 

Frank smirked. "She give you any orders yet?" 

Dean looked at Cas, curious. He'd been wondering what that had been all about. "Yeah, Cas. What was up with that?" 

Cas explained the ancient tradition to the men, and how he and Gail had wanted to turn it on its ear. 

Frank laughed. "Well, it was sure different." Then he shrugged. "But let's face it, you were just saying out loud what we all know to be true, anyway. Any guy that claims he's the boss in his marriage is just fooling himself." He smiled, sipping his coffee. 

"And that's why I never got married," Dean said to the group. 

"Really?" Sam said, smiling. "So you wouldn't be willing to let Nicole call the shots if it meant you could have a great relationship?" 

"Shut up, Sammy," Dean said, affably enough. Then, to take the focus off of himself, Dean looked at Gail. "So, you're wearing the pants in the marriage, then?" he asked her, smirking. 

"We both wear pants, Dean," Cas said, "although Gail looks very nice in a dress, too." He kissed her hand. 

"No, Cas, that means - " Dean started to say, but Cas lifted an eyebrow to him. "I know what it means, Dean," Cas said to his friend, smiling faintly. "I was merely trying to point out the absurdity of that way of thinking. That is why we rejected the ancient vows. A marriage is, or it should be, an equal partnership." 

"Yes, but if you vowed to be subservient to Gail, how is that equal?" Jody asked him. She had walked into the room and had been listening to the conversation with great interest. Robbie trailed behind her, and he jumped up into Frank's lap now. 

"Are you telling me that Frank does not defer to you in your relationship?" Cas asked her, still smiling faintly. 

"Maybe I should cover Robbie's ears for this conversation," Frank quipped. "We don't want him getting any wrong ideas." 

Robbie shrugged. "You're talking about getting married and stuff. I don't care about that." 

"You will, one day," Cas said to him. "And when you do fall in love, you'll be willing to do anything to make your wife - " he looked at Barry and Tommy, then amended, " - your spouse - happy." Then Cas looked at Gail, bringing her hand up to his lips to kiss it. "Anything," he repeated. 

Gail was smiling. She knew he really meant it, too. "I love you, sweetie," she told Cas. 

"All right, you two, you're married now," Bobby said irritably. He had suddenly appeared in the room. "That means you're going to have to cool it with all this luvvy-duvvy stuff." 

They looked at him, startled. Sam and Dean had pretty much become accustomed to seeing Bobby just pop in like this by now, but they were still a little surprised. 

Cas rose from his chair, bringing Gail with him. He hadn't let go of her hand since they'd arrived at the bunker. "I don't see why it would mean that," he said lightly. "It just means we'll be even closer, and more loving." 

Bobby rolled his eyes. Just his luck. Every other couple in the known universe toned it down once they got married, but these two were going to ramp it up. Terrific. 

"Well, if you can dial it back for long enough, I want to talk to you both for a minute," Bobby told them. "Can you come up to my office?" 

He hadn't told them about it, because he'd wanted to see their reaction. 

As soon as Cas and Gail popped into Bobby's office in Heaven, they looked around in utter amazement. His desk was brown, his chair was brown with dark green cushions, and the files on his desk were colour coded. 

"What happened here, Bobby?" Gail said, her eyes wide. 

But Cas was smiling, and Bobby was looking at him suspiciously. "I dunno, but it happened last night, very suddenly," Bobby said. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you, Cas?" 

Castiel had a pretty good idea. He and Gail were Originals, after all, and they had come together in a very special and unique way last night. The instant that Gail had touched his core self, Castiel had had the feeling that something very momentous had occurred. 

"Ummm...I might," Cas said evasively. But he was still smiling. Gail was looking at him now, and he gave her hand a squeeze. "It happened last night, you say?" Cas said innocently, but as he looked at Gail, his smile widened. She was starting to get it. Really? They had done this? 

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you, you two," Bobby said, his beard twitching furiously. "I can't tell you how good it is to finally see some colour up here. All that white made me want to drive a railroad spike into my forehead." 

Gail laughed. "It's funny, I remember a while back, I threatened to get my hands on some paint and run around here, splashing colour around." 

"I remember that, too," Cas said with amusement. "I guess you finally succeeded." He looked around approvingly. There had been many times over the millennia that Castiel thought that Heaven would be vastly improved with some colour, and he was pleased to see it now. 

"And now that we've had our moment of fun, I need to get down to business," Bobby told them. "I just got off the phone with Crowley. He told me that Paul called him, wanting to arrange a meeting." 

Castiel was surprised. "Why would Paul propose a meeting with Crowley?" 

"Believe it or not, he told Crowley that he would deliver Lucifer to him," Bobby told them. 

Cas frowned. "Well, I don't believe it. Paul is a liar. He set me up before, and he's setting Crowley up now." 

"That may very well be true," Bobby agreed, "but if there's even a chance that we can get to Lucifer this way, we have to take it, don't you think?" 

Cas and Gail were nodding, but Gail said, "What if it's Crowley who's setting us up?" 

Castiel smiled grimly. The same thought had occurred to him. 

"I know he can't be trusted, but I was under the impression that he wants Lucifer gone as much as we do," Bobby remarked. 

Gail's head was spinning now. Paul, Crowley, Lucifer. None of them could be trusted, and all of them had their own axes to grind. "What's the plan, Bobby?" she asked him. 

"I figure we find out where Paul wants to meet, and we send the team out there," Bobby said. "You can be the General, Cas. Talk to Crowley and see what you think. Take the usual suspects, and you can have the Musketeers too, if you want. Maybe Ethan's got some recruits you can take with you, if you think you'll need the numbers." 

But Cas was stricken now, perturbed. Since when was HE in charge? Bobby may not be God any more, but he had given Cas enough lectures in the past about him still being in God's Office, and therefore still being responsible for everyone. But now, Bobby seemed to be telling Cas that he should just take whoever he wanted and expose them to the danger that Crowley and Lucifer would pose. 

"Why are you doing this, Bobby?" Cas fumed. "Why are you making me responsible, all of a sudden?" 

Bobby raised an eyebrow to him. "Haven't you really been responsible all along, Cas? Or are you trying to pretend that you haven't been in charge of this whole shebang from the very beginning?" 

Cas had to let go of Gail's hand because he was so angry now. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said to Bobby in his quiet tone. "Are you trying to say that I think I'm God?" 

Gail winced. She knew that was a touchy subject for Cas, and between the two of them. She was also having trouble understanding where Bobby was coming from. He'd talked about himself being in charge, and he'd insisted on coming to Egypt, but once the hard decisions had had to be made there, Bobby had stepped aside and let Cas make them. Now she was starting to get mad, too. She'd seen how much anguish Cas had gone through when he'd been forced to unleash the Plagues. 

"Don't you, Cas?" Bobby said quietly. "Don't you, sometimes?" 

Gail blew up. "How can you say that to him?" she shouted. "He's only doing what needs to be done! Didn't you quit being God, Bobby? So where do you get off, criticizing Cas? I don't see YOU out there confronting Lucifer!" 

"Maybe you should stay out of this, Gail," Bobby said bluntly. "I'm talking to Cas, now." 

"She is my wife," Cas said angrily. "When you talk to me, you're talking to the both of us." 

"And that, right there, is part of the problem," Bobby shot back. 

Cas's eyes flashed bright blue. "Explain what you mean by that," he snapped. 

"Gail's your weak spot," Bobby said to him, "and everybody knows it. Our enemies, especially. How many times have they gotten to you through her?" 

"Who was it that sent her alone to Las Vegas as bait for Lucifer?" Cas said, in his quietest voice yet. "Oh, yes. That was you. She was attacked twice there, and it was only due to the fact that I was able to be there, contrary to your orders, that saved her. Are you sure you're not on Lucifer's payroll, Bobby?" 

Gail gasped. Disagreements were one thing, but Cas had just gone over the line. 

"Get out," Bobby said, tight-lipped. "Get out of my office." 

Gail grabbed Cas's arm. "Come on, Cas, let's go. We'll get you cooled off a bit, and then you can come back and apologize." 

He wheeled on her, looking furious, and she almost took a step back. It had been a while since she'd seen him looking that angry. But he softened immediately. Cas didn't want to see that look on her face. It was Bobby that he was angry at, not Gail. She had only been trying to help. 

Cas grabbed her hand and winked them out of Bobby's office. 

Bobby sat at his desk for a while afterwards, staring at the spot where the couple had stood. Boy, had that deteriorated quickly. Apparently, all that good marital loving wasn't doing anything to cure Cas's temper. Not that Bobby could blame him, though, in a way. 

What was wrong with Bobby? The answer was simple, but it was also complex, at the same time. In a word, he was scared. When Lucifer had entered the bunker that day and incapacitated Bobby as easily as he had, Bobby's first thought had been for himself, and his sanity. What a coward he had been. There had been two women and a child in that bunker, and Bobby's first impulse had been to protect himself. That was his secret shame. He couldn't go through that with Lucifer again; he just couldn't. Bobby's time in the cage had broken him, and just thinking about it made him feel despair. Asking God to relieve him of the responsibilities of the Office had been the stupidest thing that Bobby had ever done. He had resigned his post in a fit of pique over not having been given the proper tools to do the job. It had gnawed and gnawed at him, until he wasn't able to stand it anymore. How the hell did God expect him to be, well, God, and then leave him with so little power, and so little knowledge? There was so much information that God had never shared with Bobby before He had taken off. How could Bobby do the job effectively when he was so out of the loop? Hell, most of the time Crowley knew more than he did. So Bobby had prayed to God, telling Him he wanted to quit, and God had answered. Free Will was important, He had told Bobby, and Bobby should not feel compelled to do the job if he no longer wanted to. However, for the purposes of morale in Heaven, God had asked Bobby if he would stay in the Office until they could hold Heaven's first election, and Bobby had agreed. 

But then Lucifer and Metatron had escaped, and politics had had to take a back seat. Bobby now suspected that God had known all along that Lucifer was going to escape, and that was why He hadn't wanted to fully accept Bobby's resignation. 

So, Bobby had tried to ride it out. Only Cas and Gail knew that he did not have any Godly powers any more, and they had vowed to keep that fact a secret as long as Lucifer was free. But Bobby was feeling the pressure now. He hadn't been able to do them a damn bit of good in Egypt, and he knew it. Everyone looked to Cas now for guidance and instructions, and so far, Cas had things well in hand. But Cas was only doing what he should be doing. So why had Bobby spoken to him like he had? Did he really think that Cas thought he was God? No, of course not. So what was really the problem? 

Could Bobby be jealous of Cas? A part of him was, if he were to be honest with himself. The guy was as old as Creation, yet he seemed ageless. Bobby was an Angel, who up until recently had been God, but inexplicably, he felt old and worn out many days. Cas had made a lot of shockingly bad decisions and mistakes throughout his existence, yet he'd seemed to slide through all of those events largely unscathed. Though the same couldn't be said for his friends and family. Bobby knew that Cas had hurt Dean and Sam deeply in the past, and he had hurt Bobby too, to tell the truth. That crack he had just made about Bobby being on Lucifer's payroll had been below the belt. Did Cas think that Bobby had enjoyed seeing Gail hurt like she'd been in Las Vegas? Did he think that Bobby hadn't cared when Gail had gone missing for all those months? It had just about ripped Bobby's heart right out of his chest to look at Gail's empty chair at the library table during the time that she had been gone, and to have to look at the forlorn faces of her loved ones. Cas was included in that number, despite the way that Bobby talked to him sometimes. No one knew it, but Bobby had gone to the empty boardroom in Heaven many nights during that time and sat in Gail's chair with his head in his hands, vowing that he would do anything to bring her back again. So, Cas accusing Bobby of deliberately putting Gail in harm's way was beyond insulting. Maybe Cas had just been lashing out after Bobby'd said what he said, but Bobby had had his reasons. However petty they were. 

He took a deep breath. Now what? Bobby had basically given Cas the ball and told him to run with it. So what the hell was Bobby supposed to do with himself now? 

Cas was tight-lipped and angry, and his feelings were hurt, as well. 

"Why would Bobby say those things to me?" he asked Gail. 

She sighed. She really had no idea, either. Gail was angry at Bobby too, but she also thought that Cas had gone a little too far with what he had said. 

She put her hand on Cas's arm. "I think he's just frustrated," she said. "He probably feels like he's not really contributing." 

"Well, he's not," Cas pointed out, fuming. "I don't know why he just suddenly decided he didn't want to be God any more, but he has basically abandoned Heaven. Just as he did when he resigned during the tribunal." 

"OK, Cas, that's not exactly fair," Gail told him. "Lucifer had driven him crazy then. He had to resign." 

Cas sighed. Gail was right, of course. But he didn't want her to be right. Not right now, anyway. He wanted her to be as angry as he was. "Be that as it may, it amounts to the same result," he insisted. "Heaven is without a God, when we need one the most. And, contrary to what Bobby says, that's not me." He looked at Gail's face. "You don't think that I think I'm God, do you?" 

As much as she itched to make a quip to disarm him, Gail figured she had better not. Not until she'd gotten him calmed down a bit. "No, of course not, Cas. That's why I yelled at him the way I did. I thought that remark was uncalled-for, especially since HE'S the one who's been putting YOU in charge!" she exclaimed. 

"Thank you." He put his arm around her and drew her to him. Cas had known that she would understand and support him. He smiled, despite the way he'd been feeling inside. "I appreciated what you said to Bobby on my behalf." 

She kissed Cas softly on the cheek. "Well, I meant it. It was unfair of him to say that to you." 

Cas's smile widened. "It was good to see you angry with someone besides me, for a change," he teased. 

Gail smiled back. She couldn't believe it; Cas was actually defusing himself this time. This was a first. 

"How could I possibly be angry with you?" she said, matching his tone. "We're newlyweds." 

"You need to stop saying those kinds of things when we're alone," he said softly to her. "They get me too excited." 

"Maybe that's what I was going for," Gail said, raising an eyebrow to him humorously. 

Cas kissed her on the lips, opening her mouth with his tongue. "I love you," he told her. 

Gail smiled. She kissed him back for a minute or three, and told him she loved him, too. "I'll always support you, Cas. That's what couples do for each other," Gail said softly, and then she mentally crossed her fingers. "Even when the other person might have been slightly unreasonable." 

He pulled out of the embrace and looked at her, eyes narrowing. "I thought you said it was Bobby who was being unreasonable." 

"He was. But so were you, Cas," she persisted. "You shouldn't have said what you said to him, either. Don't we have enough enemies to fight without attacking each other?" 

Cas sighed. "He just made me so angry, Gail. I guess what I said was out of line, but I couldn't help it." 

Gail took a deep breath. Cas and his temper. She supposed she was lucky he hadn't taken out his blade, or something. But the day was young, and they hadn't even seen Crowley yet. 

"I think you should apologize, Cas," she said softly. "You went too far." 

He pursed his lips. "Do you really think that I should apologize?" 

Gail nodded. "I really do, Cas. If you're the bigger man and apologize first, hopefully he'll apologize to you, too." She smiled. "And even if he doesn't, I'll be very proud of you if you do it. You know it's the right thing to do, Cas." 

Cas sighed again. He had once told Gail that she was the voice of his conscience, and it was true. He'd known that what he'd said to Bobby was crossing the line, but it was already out before he could take it back. 

"All right, I'll apologize," he told her. "You're right, as usual." 

"Let's just assume that, next time. It'll save a lot of time," she quipped. 

Cas smiled. How did she always do that? A few moments ago, his blood had been boiling, and now, all he wanted to do was smile at her. 

"You know, we haven't even tested any of our furniture yet," he said to her. "We don't know how comfortable it is." 

"What are you suggesting?" Gail said. As if she didn't know. 

Cas took her hand and led her over to the couch. He sat them down and said, "Why don't we start here?" He kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her. Gail kissed him back, and she could feel his hands move tentatively underneath her top. She should really put the brakes on this, before it got out of hand. There were other things they should be doing. But now his hands were touching her breasts and he was licking her ear, and she couldn't think of a single thing they needed to do except for what they were doing right now. 

He kissed her on the mouth, and she gave him her tongue. He started to lift her top over her head, and she felt like she should at least make a token protest. 

"Cas," she said. "Maybe we shouldn't be doing this right now." 

He stopped what he'd been doing and frowned. "I just want to make love to my wife in our new home. What's wrong with that?" he asked her. Then his arms went around her again, and he pulled her closer to him. He kissed her again, using his tongue, and then one of his hands slipped into her pants. He started to stroke her gently. 

"Nothing's wrong with that," she breathed. "Not a thing." Well, she'd tried, but he was making a very compelling case. 

But then suddenly, he stopped. Then he frowned again. He took his hand out of her pants and sat her upright. He had an unfocused look on his face now. She recognized that look; he was receiving a call. 

After a moment, Cas looked at her, still frowning. "That was Crowley," he said. "He wants to meet with us to plan out a strategy. He said he's meeting with Paul in an hour, and Paul has promised to take him to meet with Lucifer personally." Cas smiled wryly. "If the subject matter had been any different, I would have told him he had to wait." 

Gail answered his smile. "Duty calls. That's OK; we'll put a bookmark in it for now. But don't forget what page you were on," she added mischievously. 

Cas gave her a quick kiss. "I will always remember that page," he told her charmingly. 

Then they rose from the couch and winked themselves to the crossroads. 

"Why would Paul take you to see Lucifer?" Castiel asked Crowley without preliminary. "He's a defector, is he not?" 

But Crowley was looking at Gail. "Mind your manners, Castiel. Allow me to congratulate your blushing bride on your recent nuptials. Or, should I offer you my condolences instead, sweetheart? You know, we have a lot of divorce lawyers in Hell. Should I put one on retainer for you now?" he said to her, smirking. 

Gail rolled her eyes. "You must have way too much time on your hands, if you can just sit around and think up those insults," she said to him. "Maybe you should take up a hobby. How about writing campaign ads for politicians? You probably have a lot of those down there, too." 

Crowley's mouth twitched. Damn it, she was making him smile now. But he didn't want to smile. The Angels had had their sickeningly romantic wedding, and they would have had a night last night that would rival his domain in terms of hotness. And when Crowley had called Castiel just now, he'd had the feeling that the two of them hadn't even been finished yet. Castiel had sounded curt and impatient; of course, he sounded like that every time he spoke with his Brother. 

Castiel was glaring at Crowley. Cas knew he was just trying to get under his Brother's skin. He knew that. But it was difficult not to get angry. How dare Crowley talk to Gail about divorce lawyers the day after their wedding? "You're not funny," he snapped at Crowley. "We came here to talk about your meeting with Paul. I suggest you speak about that." 

Crowley smirked at him. "Upset that you had to put the wings away so quickly, Castiel? Too bad you weren't still a Demon. Then you could have just stayed in bed and ignored Bobby's call." 

Castiel's hand was itching for his blade now. If Bobby's finger had touched a sensitive button earlier, Crowley was mashing his whole hand on one now. Gail could see the veins come out on Cas's neck, and she could see his hands curling into fists. 

"Why must everything you say be so objectionable?" Gail hissed at Crowley. He looked at her in surprise. 

"I was only having a laugh, sweetheart," he said, affecting an innocent tone. 

"Well, stop it," she snapped. "There's nothing funny about Lucifer. If you want our help, stick to business and keep your smartass comments to yourself." 

Crowley sighed. He'd been planning on getting down to business; he just couldn't resist seeing the veins throb in his Brother's neck like that. Castiel was happily, blissfully, besottedly married to the love of his life now, and Crowley had to give his Brother a hard time so that he didn't want to vomit every time he looked at his face. And, Castiel had actually vowed obedience and subservience to Gail. Crowley couldn't get past that. He wasn't sure if he should admire Gail for having taken his Brother's manhood so neatly, or if he should admonish Castiel for just handing it to her. He supposed it was none of his business, really, but there was just something about that whole thing that offended his old-school sensibilities. Castiel was already much too vulnerable when it came to Gail. All Lucifer would have to do was to cast an eye in her direction, and Castiel would lose it. If she were unable to accompany them to the meeting place somehow, then he and Castiel could lay waste to Lucifer's minions and engage with the Devil himself. But, even as powerful as they both were, could they prevail against him? Or did they need Gail for the extra power she could provide? 

"Fine," Crowley snapped. "Paul has arranged for us to meet at this address." He handed Castiel a piece of paper. "He claims that he'll take me to Lucifer, and that Lucifer has something I want. I don't see what that could possibly be, but we all know he's famous for offering up one's fondest desires. Since you two will be tailing us, that wouldn't be your heads on a platter, although that would be an offer I would have to seriously consider." Now Crowley smirked again. The King couldn't help it; he was who he was. But then his expression turned serious. "Whatever he's got to offer me, he'll do so and then propose that I join him in killing as many of the God Squad as we possibly can, and then he'll sugges that we should perpetrate Armageddon together, and divide up the spoils at the end." 

Castiel was impressed, despite himself. Whatever else his Brother was, he was not stupid. The scenario Crowley had just described was indeed a very likely one. And that presented a huge problem. 

"What exactly would prevent you from taking the deal, then?" Castiel asked him. 

Crowley now thought the same thing about his Brother in terms of his mental acuity, and he dipped his head in acknowledgement of Castiel's comment. "You're absolutely right, Castiel. There would be nothing preventing me from taking the deal, if the Devil were not a notorious liar." 

Gail had been holding her breath without even realizing it, and now she exhaled. She had also been thinking that that kind of a deal would be nearly impossible for Crowley to refuse. For as long as she'd known him, she knew that he had wanted to lay waste to the Earth, and then rule both places. But he'd never had the power to do it before. If he were to team up with Lucifer, would that be enough to do it? 

Fortunately, Crowley was shaking his head. "Even if I were to take the deal, I couldn't count on Lucifer to honour it. The first thing he would do after I'd used all my powers to help him would be to use all of his to obliterate me. That's if he doesn't vapourize me as soon as I walk in the door now, that is. So don't fret, sweetheart," he said, looking at Gail. "We're still allies. Between the three of us, we may very well be able to put an end to Lucifer today." 

Castiel didn't like it. Was he really supposed to lead his new bride into a place where Lucifer, Crowley, and Paul were all going to be? And how about Mark, Jason, and possibly even Rowena? But they were partners, and Gail was an Original. If they could combine their powers with Crowley's, they could accomplish a great deal. But he didn't have the confidence that Crowley seemed to have that they could defeat Lucifer so easily. His eyes narrowed as he regarded his Brother. Was the King of Hell leading them into a trap by trying to convince them that it was he who was being led into a trap? No wonder there was no honour amongst thieves; how could you ever know who to trust? 

"Of course, if you don't think we have enough firepower, you could always bring God," Crowley said casually. Then he snapped his fingers. "Oh, that's right, I forgot," he continued. "You don't have one of those any more, do you?" 

Cas was angry again. There was no way that they could ever confirm to Crowley that Bobby was no longer God, even though they knew that he knew. Bobby had put them in an impossible position here. 

"Never mind, I already know that Bobby isn't God," Crowley continued conversationally. "Which makes the fact that Lucifer can't be trusted even more of a shame. The two of you and your little Angel blades and vows of love and obedience wouldn't be able to do a damn thing against us." 

Cas had had it. He grabbed Crowley by the lapel of his suit jacket and pulled his blade out of his blazer. "What, this little thing?" he snarled. "Then perhaps I should just take care of you right here and now, and then we won't have to worry about you teaming up with Lucifer. Believe me, it would give me the greatest of pleasure to shut that mouth of yours once and for all." 

Crowley's eyes shifted to Gail. "Tell your husband to stand down. I was speaking hypothetically." 

She regarded him coolly. "Be that as it may, we're not too crazy about threats, hypothetical or otherwise," Gail told Crowley. "If you expect us to help you, maybe you should keep a civil tongue in your head," she added. Great. Now she was talking like them, too. 

"I will only ask you this once," Castiel said to Crowley, holding the blade in front of his face, "are you our ally, or not?" 

"Yes, of course I am, Castiel," Crowley said through gritted teeth. 

Cas let go of the King but continued to hold his blade aloft. "Then, act like it." 

But something had occurred to Gail. "Wait a minute. How did you know about the vow of obedience?" she asked Crowley warily. 

"What?" Cas said, looking at her. 

"When he was making his so-called hypothetical threat, he mentioned vows of love and obedience," Gail pointed out. 

Bollocks. He hadn't meant to say that. Crowley didn't want them to know that he had been witness to their wedding, for some reason. So, he thought fast. "Those are the traditional vows, are they not?" he said glibly. "I just assumed." 

"Well, you can quit assuming," Cas told him sharply. "Gail is my wife now, and I don't want to hear any references from you about our personal life. Are we understood?" He hadn't missed Crowley's earlier remark about putting away his wings. Cas was only thankful that Gail seemed to have missed it. Crowley may be familiar with the way things worked, but Castiel was not going to allow him to make such deeply personal comments to his wife. He continued to glare at Crowley. "Are we understood?" he repeated, raising his voice. 

"Yes, yes. All right, Castiel," Crowley said grudgingly, and Cas put his blade away. "Touchy, touchy," Crowley added, but he did so under his breath. 

"Let's plan our strategy, then," Cas said. 

Lucifer searched the house for Rowena, but she was nowhere to be found. Curious. He'd allowed her to come and go as she pleased, but her absence now was strangely coincidental. Or, was it? Did she know that he had been planning to offer her up to Crowley as bait? He had to assume that was the case. 

Well, that was too bad, but he didn't need to actually produce her. Once Crowley was here, Lucifer was convinced that he would use his silver tongue to persuade Crowley that it would be in his best interests to turn against the Angels. Frankly, he was very surprised that Crowley hadn't done so already. Crowley hated Castiel more than he hated anyone, and now that Gail had gone ahead and married their Brother, Crowley could forget about ever obtaining her for himself, if he had still been clinging onto that fantasy. So, what was it? What was keeping Crowley from aligning with Lucifer, then? Did he really distrust him that much? Not that Lucifer could blame him, of course. The only thing that was going to satisfy Satan more than killing the Angels slowly was going to be reaching into Crowley's mouth and ripping his tongue right out of his head. Lucifer was with Castiel and Gail on that one; Crowley was way too in love with the sound of his own voice. 

And Lucifer was no slouch in the brains department, either. He had already thought two steps ahead. If Crowley had allied himself with the Angels, didn't it stand to reason that he might very well inform them of this little rendezvous? And then, wouldn't it be logical to assume that they might tag along, thinking that Paul might lead them to the pot of gold at the end of the journey? How many of the God Squad could he get in one trap? 

"Paul!" Lucifer bellowed. 

Paul entered the room. "Yes?" he said, a touch of coolness in his voice. Lucifer may be the boss, but Paul didn't appreciate being yelled at. 

Lucifer turned to the Demon. "When you bring Crowley here, you may very well be followed," he told him. 

"Don't worry, I plan to use evasive measures," Paul assured Lucifer. He restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Did Lucifer really think he wouldn't have thought of that? 

"Don't," Lucifer said shortly. 

"What? Why not?" Paul asked him, puzzled. 

Lucifer let out a breath. If Paul didn't want to be thought of as stupid, he'd better step up his game. "Because, we want as many flies in the web as possible. In fact, I want you and Crowley to take the bus to the corner just down the street from here, and then walk the rest of the way." 

"You're kidding," Paul blurted out. 

Lucifer smiled coldly. "I do have one hell of a sense of humour, but I'm not kidding, actually. And I'm not going to stand here and add two and two together for you. Just do as I say, Paul. There are plenty of black-eyed bastards that would just love to take your place, you know." 

Maybe so, but none who Crowley would trust enough to accompany, Paul thought. But he did not quite have the nerve to say it. He dipped his head in acquiescence, then left the room. 

Cas was agonizing now. Should he utilize the services of the Angels, and ask their human friends and family to come along, or should he and Gail just go alone? Although the plan was for the two of them to combine their powers with Crowley's, hopefully incapacitating Lucifer, what about the Devil's minions? To say nothing of the very real possibility that there could be a contingent of Demons there, also. So even though he hated to keep putting them in harm's way, Cas supposed he'd better have the numbers. 

Meanwhile, Gail was thinking logistics. "How are we going to know where you and Paul end up going?" she asked Crowley. "Won't he just pop you somewhere, after you meet him at the address you gave us?" 

He nodded. Yes, Paul likely would do just that. "Perhaps I can get him to say the location out loud," he said doubtfully, "or attempt to call Castiel on our frequency, if I can figure out where we are once we get there." But that sounded lame, and he knew it. 

Gail thought so, too, and she was frowning, thinking furiously. How were they going to find out where Paul had taken Crowley? 

Just then, Crowley's cell phone rang. He took it out and checked the display. "Paul," he told the couple, and he answered the phone. Crowley listened for a few moments, then said, "Why on earth would we want to do that?" Then he listened some more. A brief smile flashed across his face. "Fine," he said shortly. "I'll see you in twenty minutes." 

Crowley hung up, then looked at the Angels. "Well, now we know for sure that it's a setup. And not just for me, but for all of you," he told them. 

Castiel frowned. "Why? What makes you say that?" 

"Because Paul is going to make sure you know where we'll be going," Crowley answered with a sardonic smile. "As many years as I've been around, I'm going to have a brand new experience today. Paul and I are going to take the bus there. I only hope I have the correct change." 

"You're taking the bus to Lucifer's den?" Gail asked him incredulously. 

"So it would seem," Crowley replied. 

Castiel was nodding. Oh, this was a setup, all right. Lucifer wanted to make sure that Paul and Crowley were followed, and that they could even be followed by humans. He shook his head slowly. Whatever else Lucifer was, he certainly wasn't subtle. Still, Castiel and Gail could hardly board a bus with Paul and Crowley. They might as well just ask Paul if they could tag along, then. No, he still wanted the element of surprise. So it couldn't be Castiel and Gail getting on that bus, because Paul knew what they looked like. Then he had an idea. 

"Gail and I will board the bus with the two of you," he advised Crowley, "but we won't look like ourselves." 

"Are you going to wear disguises, Castiel?" Crowley sneered. "Big glasses and a false moustache, perhaps? Or, maybe you could wear a dress. How do you look in heels?" 

Cas ignored his Brother's attempts at humour. "If we are given their permission, I will ask Frank and Jody if we can possess their bodies for long enough to get to Lucifer's den without Paul's detection. Then we will gather the others and bring them to the spot." 

Crowley nodded briefly. "That'll work. I'll see you over there, then. Or, I'll see Gail's brother and his wife, I suppose." He smirked. "I'll have to remind myself not to kill Frank when I see him. Or perhaps you should be Jody, Castiel. I suspect you're well on your way, now that you've got that ring on your finger." 

Gail went to take Cas's hand, which was slowly curling into a fist again. God, she wished Crowley would just shut up, sometimes. Most of the time, actually. "We'll see you there," she said quickly, and she winked herself and Cas to the bunker. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Sam asked them. "I thought you were going to see Quinn." 

"Change of plans," Castiel said briskly. He asked Gail to gather everyone together for a briefing, and she went from room to room, bringing Dean, Frank and Jody, and Barry and Tommy to the library area. Robbie was watching a movie on the TV in Sam's room, and he wanted to stay there. It was just as well, Gail thought. He was growing up fast, but he might be a little too young still to witness what they were about to propose. She wasn't sure she was ready for it, herself. 

Meanwhile, Cas had bitten the bullet and called Bobby on Angel Radio, asking him to bring the Musketeers down, and any law enforcement staff that Ethan thought might be battle-ready. This was going to be difficult. Cas knew that Ethan's staff had had very little in the way of adequate training. Nor had Chuck, Kevin, and even Ethan himself, for that matter. And here Cas was again, exposing them to mortal danger. But what choice did he have, really? 

Cas explained to the group what was happening, and his idea for Gail and himself to tail Paul and Crowley, disguised as Frank and Jody. It was obvious that this was a setup, and Paul was leading all of them intentionally to Lucifer's den. 

"Why do you say that?" Chuck asked, but several of the others were nodding. 

"Isn't it obvious?" Ethan said to his friend. "Why the hell would otherworldly beings take the bus to a meeting with the Devil? Of course Lucifer wants them followed." 

"But I still want to be discreet about it," Cas said. "So when we find out where they've gone, we'll come back and get everyone. And we'll restore ourselves back to our own vessels and we'll give you back yours," he told Frank and Jody, smiling briefly. 

"How exactly does that work, Cas?" Jody said warily. She trusted Cas and Gail, of course, but it just sounded weird to her. "If you're in our bodies, where are we?" 

"You're still around," he told her. "We're just...sharing, for a brief time. We won't totally possess you, it'll be just like...borrowing you, for a bit." 

"What do you know? I'm a library book," Frank said, bemused. 

Jody sighed. "OK, Cas. What do we do?" 

"Come with us," Cas said. He took Gail's hand and beckoned for Frank and Jody to come with them. 

They walked into the bedroom that Frank and Jody shared when they stayed there, and Cas said, "I'm going to have Gail breathe most of her essence into you, Jody. Then, her vessel will stay here until she comes back to rejoin it. Mine, too." It was irrational, but even though their vessels would be in stasis, Cas wanted his to be lying beside hers. 

Cas looked at Gail. "Ready?" 

She wasn't really sure. This was going to be so weird. "I guess so." 

He smiled down at her. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll be with you the whole time." 

"Yeah, but you'll look like him," Gail quipped, pointing at Frank. 

"A definite upgrade," Frank said, smirking. "You should be worried, though. He'll probably like being me so much he'll decide to stay that way for a while." 

"I don't really think Cas is in the market for a Dad-bod," Jody teased, kissing Frank on the cheek. 

Castiel flashed the couple a smile, but they were running out of time now. "Gail? Jody? Can you stand and face each other, please?" The women did, and Cas instructed, "Now, Jody, open your mouth, and Gail, exhale until you see the golden smoke. When you do, breathe about three-quarters of a breath into Jody. That should be sufficient." 

Gail and Jody did as he said, and Frank watched, speechless, as the gold smoke came out of his sister's mouth and went into his wife's. The sight was so strange that he couldn't even come up with a good joke about it. He'd have to work on that later. 

Once Gail had breathed most of herself into Jody, her vessel collapsed. Cas caught her body and laid it gently down on the bed, kissing its cheek softly. 

He looked at Jody/Gail. "How do you feel?" Cas asked her. 

"Weird," Gail said. "I never realized how tall Jody is. It's kind of nice, for a change." She moved forward and put her arms around Cas's neck. "You'd probably like this. Less bending over for you, when we kiss." 

Frank cleared his throat. "Ummmm...do you two mind not making out right now? Jody's my wife, and I don't wanna see that." 

Cas reached up and gently disengaged Jody's arms from around his neck. "Your brother's right, Gail. Besides, I love Jody, but I could never kiss her the way I'd want to kiss you," he said, smiling gently. 

"Let's get on with this, before I change my mind," Frank said, rolling his eyes. 

"All right, Frank. Just open your mouth and stay still," Cas told him. He breathed his blue essence into Frank's mouth, then stopped short, as he'd had Gail do. 

"There," Frank/Cas said. "I'll still be myself, but I'll have the ability to make bad jokes, if the need arises." 

Gail smirked. She helped Cas to catch his own vessel as it collapsed, and then guided it onto the bed to lay beside her vessel. Now this was getting really weird. Talk about an out-of-body experience. She wished she were as strong as Jody, though. Must be all that police training. Maybe she'd actually be able to kick some ass for a change, if she were in a body like this full time. 

Gail looked at Cas. He looked like he was trying to get used to his new body, as well. Frank was taller and longer-limbed than Cas, more like Sam. But he was solid and strong, and in good shape, so Cas didn't think it would be that difficult of an adjustment. He gave Gail a tight smile. "I guess we'd better get going." 

They walked out to the library area and Cas said, "OK, we're going to pop over to where Crowley is meeting with Paul. We'll be back as soon as we have the location. Please be ready, with as many weapons as you can carry. We don't know what we can expect." 

Dean stared at him. It was so weird, looking at Frank but hearing Cas, speaking out of Gail's brother's mouth. 

"How's it feel, being Jody?" Sam teased Gail. 

"Taller," she told him cheerfully. "I wish I had time to run into the kitchen and get some things from the higher shelves." 

"We'll be back in a bit," Cas said. He took Gail's hand automatically, and she looked at him, surprised. Well, it wasn't as if her brother had never grabbed her hand before, but he hadn't done it for years, not since she'd been a little girl. She knew it was really Cas in there, but still, it was kind of nice. 

Then they winked out. 

Cas and Gail sat side by side a couple of rows behind Crowley and Paul on the bus. If she hadn't been so nervous about where they were going and what they might find when they got there, Gail would be highly amused right now. Crowley was sitting practically on the edge of his seat, as if he thought his designer suit would get soiled, or something. She guessed the King of Hell didn't travel with the unwashed masses very often. 

Paul rang for their stop, and he nudged Crowley. They got up and moved to the front doors of the bus, and Cas and Gail moved to the back doors. All four got off the bus at the corner, and Paul started walking down the street. Crowley shot Cas and Gail a quick look, and then followed the Demon. 

Cas was watching them, but he didn't want to be too obvious about following the men, so he hung back for a moment. Gail looked at him, but she knew what he was doing, so she said nothing. 

Suddenly, Paul looked back at them, and Cas said, "What's the address of the place?" 

Gail's brow furrowed for a moment, but then she caught on. She pretended to check Jody's pants pockets. "I have it here somewhere, I think," she said. 

"You think?" Cas retorted. "Well, how are we supposed to find the place if you don't have the address?" 

Paul turned away from them and kept walking, and Crowley smirked. "The place is just a couple of blocks down this way," Paul said to the King. "Lucky you're with me, and not with her. You'd be wandering around for a while." 

They walked further away, out of earshot of the couple, and Gail quipped, "I think my feelings should be hurt." 

"A couple of blocks that way," Cas said quietly. "I still want to see what the place looks like, though. Play along." 

He grabbed her hand and started pulling her in the direction that Paul and Crowley were going. "Let's ask these guys, since you don't seem to have any clue," he snapped at her. "Do you guys know where the thrift store is?" 

Paul laughed shortly. "The thrift store? Boy, are you two in the wrong neighbourhood," he told them. "This is the upscale part of town." 

"I told you, we got on the wrong bus," Gail said to Cas. "Sorry to have bothered you guys." 

Paul shrugged. "Come on," he said to Crowley, and they kept walking. 

"Now we're going to have to go back and wait for the bus to take us back to where we started," Cas said to Gail, keeping an eye on Paul and Crowley's progress. 

"What are you yelling at me for?" Gail argued. It was a good thing that her back was to Paul and Crowley, because her lips were twitching now. "Maybe if you weren't so cheap, we wouldn't have to take a bus in the first place!" 

Then Cas smiled down at her. "It's all right, you can stop. They've gone around the corner." He took her hand and they hurried down the street. They peeked around the corner and saw Paul and Crowley entering a large house. "All right. We have our location," Cas said softly. He looked sidelong at Gail. "And just in time, too. I think you were enjoying that a little too much." 

"Somehow, it's easier to bicker with you when you look like my brother," she told him, smiling. 

Cas couldn't help but smile back. He took her hand, winking them back to the bunker. 

They stood over their vessels in Frank and Jody's bedroom. It was so surreal for Gail to see herself and Cas like that. 

"Let's get back into ourselves," she said anxiously. "How do we do that?" 

"Watch me," Cas said. He leaned down over his vessel and opened its mouth, almost as if he were going to give himself mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Then he breathed his blue essence back into himself. After a moment, Frank staggered back from the bed, and Cas rose from it. It had been a while, but he'd done this before, so it only took Cas a moment to regain his equilibrium. He swung his legs off the bed and stood, putting his hand on Frank's shoulder. "Are you OK, Frank?" 

"Yeah," Gail's brother replied. "But I feel kind of strange." 

The Angels were alarmed. "What do you mean, Frank? What's the matter?" Cas asked him, looking concerned. 

"I don't know, exactly," Frank said. "I just feel...dorkier, somehow." Then he grinned. 

Gail hit him on the arm. "Frank! That's not funny! You had me really worried." 

"That was a little funny, actually," Cas remarked. 

Frank was beaming now. "See? Only half an hour inside me, and Cas's sense of humour has already vastly improved," he told Gail. "You're welcome. Now, would you mind? I want my wife back." 

"Maybe I should stay in here for a bit longer," Gail teased. "I think Jody is capable of hitting you a lot harder than I am." 

"Yeah, but if you stay Jody, you can't make out with Cas, or I'd have to punch him out," Frank told her, grinning. 

"You make a compelling argument," Gail said, raising an eyebrow to both of the men. She went to the bed and leaned over her vessel, opening her own mouth as she'd seen Cas do. "This is probably the weirdest thing I've ever done," she said. "And how weird is my life that I said 'probably'?" Then she breathed her essence into herself. 

Jody reeled back as Frank had done, and her husband reached out his arms to steady her. At the same time, Gail slowly sat up. She tried to get up off the bed, but she was dizzy and disoriented. Cas sat down beside her on the bed and put his arms around her. "Are you all right?" he asked her. "How do you feel?" 

"Just a little discombobulated," Gail told him. She looked up at Jody. "Are you okay, Jodes?" she asked her sister-in-law. 

Jody raised an eyebrow. "Only Sam can get away with calling me that. Frank too, but only very occasionally." 

"Sorry, I just figured since I've been, you know, in you, I could call you what I wanted to, now," Gail said impishly. 

A slow smile crept over Jody's face. "You're your brother's sister, that's for sure," she said. 

All four of them stood looking at each other for another few seconds. They were all related now, but in that moment, they all truly became family. 

Then Cas frowned. "We'd better hurry up and get everyone together," he told them. 

They went out to the library area, where the group was gathered and waiting. Cas looked at Bobby for a moment, not wanting to cause any more friction between them, but Bobby said, "I'm coming with the group, Cas, but it's your show. Tell us what you want us to do." 

"Hold on just a second," Gail said. Her lips were pressed together; she was debating with herself. Then she decided: "Sam? Dean? Could you come with me and Cas to the weapons room for a second?" she asked. 

Cas looked at her, distressed. "We really need to go now, Gail." 

"I know, but this'll just take a second, and it could be really important," she said. 

The four of them went to the weapons room, and Gail said, "I need you guys to look for a gun that's got pentagram bullets in it. I think we should take it with us." 

"We don't have anything like that," Dean told her, puzzled. He wouldn't remember, of course. 

"Yes, you do," she insisted. "Don't ask me any questions, just take my word for it. We'll check all the guns you've got. Hopefully Cas will recognize it. It's got to be here somewhere." 

Cas took her by the arm. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm getting one of my feelings, Cas," Gail told him. "Remember when Oliver shot at Lucifer? Lucifer looked scared, Cas. I don't know if those bullets can kill him, but they can probably hurt him. Why would he have been so freaked out about them, otherwise?" 

Cas thought about that for a moment. It was true; when Oliver had been shooting at Lucifer when he and Gail had come out of the restaurant, Lucifer had run away in fear. Perhaps there was something to her theory. But Sam and Dean wouldn't remember Oliver having threatened them with his gun with the "special" bullets in it, when he'd thought they were still Demons, would they? He pointed this out to her now quietly, so Sam and Dean wouldn't hear. 

"I know; that's why I said I was getting one of my feelings," she told him, just as quietly. "Hopefully they won't question that any further." 

Cas gave her a quick hug. She was clever. He wasn't completely convinced that her intuitions weren't somehow coming into play here. In any event, if that was true, he had come to trust those feelings. She'd never been wrong, in his experience. 

"Is this it?" Sam asked her. He held up the gun he thought he recognized that they had recovered from Oliver at the fair, and Cas nodded in confirmation. That was the gun, all right. Dean's forehead wrinkled. He knew every gun that he and Sammy had, and he could swear he didn't recognize this one. He took it from Sam, scrutinizing it. He flipped open the chamber and counted. "Seven bullets. But how did you know it was here?" he asked Gail, handing the gun back to Sam. 

"Never mind. We've got to go," she told the brothers. "Just hang onto that gun and be prepared to use it." 

"On who?" Dean asked. 

"Or, on what?" Sam added, flashing a brief grin. 

Gail and Cas exchanged glances again. "On Lucifer," Cas told them. 

Sam's grin faded. "What?" 

"You heard me," Castiel said grimly. 

"OK, fine," Dean retorted. "Just tell us something, Cas: how are we supposed to know who he is? We have no idea what he would even look like, now." 

"Gail and I do," Cas told him. "We saw him here in the bunker, before he took her memories away." Now it was Gail's turn to give Cas a sharp look. While that was certainly true, it complicated things. If Lucifer was wearing his own face, Sam and Dean wouldn't recognize him; they only knew him as The Rev. When Gail had sent Felicia's sketch of him to her friends, only Linda and Jody had ever seen it. The e-mail she'd sent to Sam never went through, and Dean hadn't checked his. "You'll have to come with us," Cas told the brothers. "As soon as we see him, start shooting, and don't stop until the bullets are all gone. Then we'll see what happens." He frowned. "I honestly don't believe that gun can kill him, but it should at least slow him down. We have reason to believe that he believes the bullets in that gun can do him harm. So, we'll see. Just make sure you don't miss, when the time comes." 

Sam handed the gun back to Dean. "Here, you take it, then. You're a better shot than me." Then he looked balefully at Cas and Gail. "I think the four of us will need to have a chat, after this is finished. I've had a feeling for a long time now that you both know something that we don't." 

"Let's go," Dean said. 

The Angels had winked the humans to the mansion, and they were all quietly searching its rooms now. 

Lucifer could have had an entire army of Demons there to greet them, but he didn't think he would need them. He had Paul, Jason, and Mark. A Demon, a Vampire, and a corrupted higher echelon Angel. And, if they got through that gauntlet, there were the King of Hell and Lucifer himself at the end of the rainbow. Lucifer had Crowley comfortably installed in an overstuffed armchair in the library, and he was currently plying him with brandy and persuasion. And the King was listening. 

Paul was in the salon, waiting for his visitors. He heard the door open behind him, and he slowly turned around to see which of them it was. To his surprise, it was Bobby. God himself, coming along on a mission of this nature? Heaven sure worked differently these days. Back in the day, when his father Raphael had been one of the highest-ranking Archangels there, the original God the Father would never have deigned to go out on such a foray with his minions. There were untold numbers of Angels, and God had never been shy when it came to sacrificing his underlings for the greater good. 

"Well, if it isn't the Almighty himself," Paul sneered. "I feel so honoured." 

"Paul," Bobby said coolly. Yes, he knew who Paul was. Bobby had read both his and his father's files in preparation for this mission. He'd actually felt a bit sorry for Paul in the past. Bobby had been there when Cas had obliterated Raphael, and he had always thought that Cas had been wrong to have killed Paul's father the way he had, and under the circumstances in which he'd done it. Young Paul had been bitter about that, and Bobby could understand that. But Paul had turned his back on his fellow Angels, and he seemed to think that the race of his and his father's vessels somehow entered into the equasion. It was Raphael's politics that Cas had objected to, not the colour of his skin, and Bobby had felt the same way. Raphael had been in favour of the Apocalypse, and now it seemed as if his son was a chip off the old block, siding with Lucifer in his bid to end the world. 

"Are you going to smite me, Bobby?" Paul said, smirking. 

"Not if I don't have to," Bobby countered, circling Paul warily. "Why don't we just talk for a bit?" 

"Talk?" Paul scoffed. "And what would we have to talk about?" 

"Why are you helping Lucifer?" Bobby asked the Demon. 

"Because I think he represents the more attractive alternative," Paul replied calmly. 

"Really?" Bobby said, raising his eyebrows. "We know that your father wanted the world to end, but I thought you were your own man, Paul." 

That made Paul angry. "Yeah, of course I'm my own man. My father wanted Earth to be a playground for the Angels, and he thought they were better than anyone else, because they were Angels. But you and I both know that Angels aren't better than anyone, don't we, Bobby? And Heaven is a joke. It's just like an elitist country club." 

"Heaven isn't for people who are better than the rest," Bobby argued, "it's for people who sincerely want to try to become better than they already are." 

"Wow," Paul said, shaking his head slowly. "Do you honestly believe what you're saying?" 

"Yes, I do," Bobby said firmly. "Besides, what's your terrific alternative? Servitude to the Devil? How fair and inclusive do you think he's gonna be?" 

"He knows what it's like to be beaten, held down, and thrown in a cage," Paul retorted. 

Bobby laughed out loud. "Is that the line of bull he sold you? And what do you suppose is gonna happen when he takes over? Freedom for everyone? Yeah, more like freedom to agree with him, and to do what he says. I can't believe you would sell out to him, Paul. Even Crowley has more integrity." 

"Crowley," Paul said derisively. "Just another white, uptight dictator. Emphasis on 'dick'." 

"And you think Lucifer is different? Based on what? The fair and equitable way he's treated you?" Bobby asked him incredulously. "Do you sit down with him at the table, like an equal? Does he let you in on any of his plans, or ask you for your opinion on his strategy? Why do you think he told you to wait here for us? You think you're not eminently expendable to him?" 

Paul glared at Bobby. He might dress and talk like a Southern cracker, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't think like one. But that didn't mean that Paul was suddenly ready to switch teams, either. 

"And I suppose you're all equals up in Heaven," Paul jeered. 

"Things aren't where they should be, but they're getting better," Bobby told him. "We have one minority on the board now, and a couple of women members. And Gail's the Chairwoman." 

"Ooh, Castiel's little honey. No favouritism there," Paul said sarcastically.   
"Not that it's any of your business, but she earned that position on her own right," Bobby said testily. "And why are we even talking about this? What happens in Heaven has nothing to do with you now. You're a Demon. You gave up any claim to Heaven when you built that first bomb, here on Earth." 

Bobby had long wondered why the son of an Angel of Raphael's stature would be a Demon. Then, when he'd read Paul's file, the mystery had been solved. Paul had used the Portal to go to Earth after his father had been killed by Cas, and he had intended to take out his rage on the human race. He didn't have the nerve or the power to confront Cas directly, so Paul had gone to Earth and joined up with a militant terrorist group. Hatred and violence were their stock-in-trade, and he'd found the rhetoric they were peddling extremely palatable. So Paul had thrown in with them, committing armed robberies and making bombs. Then, one night, Paul made an error when he was setting the timer on one of his bombs, and the next thing he knew, he'd landed in Hell. 

Paul shrugged. "All right, so you know about me. Well, I'm not going to apologize for anything I've done. I've tried going along to get along for my entire existence, but when Castiel decided to kill my father and then got away with it, I realized that there are different sets of rules for different types of individuals." 

Bobby was starting to get pissed off now. "Oh, boo hoo," he snapped. "Everybody's got their sad stories, Paul. Who ever said life was fair? But that doesn't justify what you did then, and it doesn't justify what you're doing now." 

Paul stared at Bobby coldly. "You and your elite bourgeois Angel squad will never understand what I'm talking about." 

Bourgeois? Bobby almost laughed out loud. If Paul had only been in the house that Bobby had grown up in. No, it was Paul who had no idea what he was talking about. "OK, well, I'm done talking, anyway," he advised the Demon. "I'll give you one chance to come quietly. If you won't give yourself up peacefully, we'll have no choice but to take you by force." 

Crap, Paul thought. Bobby was God; he could wipe the floor with Paul if he chose. But if Bobby had been intending to do that, wouldn't he have done it by now? 

"Go ahead, then," he said boldly. 

Bobby sighed. He raised his hand and knocked Paul into the wall. But even as he was doing so, Bobby didn't know what else he was going to do. He didn't have his Godly powers anymore; how was he going to get Paul to go to Heaven's prison, if Paul really didn't want to go? 

And Paul didn't want to go. Maybe he was taking an awfully big risk here, but Paul was banking on Bobby wanting to show him some compassion. And that was going to be Bobby's downfall. Paul extended both of his arms and threw Bobby against the opposite wall, putting all the oomph he had into it. He probably only had the one shot. 

Bobby crashed into the wall and slid down to the floor, dazed. Dammit. He hadn't been in a physical altercation in quite some time, and he was in no shape for one now. He sent out the call to Ethan and Chuck on Angel Radio for backup. 

Ethan and his two cadets had encountered Mark in the dining room. Mark was sitting in one of the chairs with his feet up on the table. Mark knew that all three of these men were Angels, and he could also see that all three were quite young. 

Mark swung his legs off the table and slowly stood up. Ethan was regarding him coolly, assessing him. 

"Who do we have here?" Mark asked. 

"My name is Ethan," the young Angel told him. "I'm the head of the Law Enforcement Division in Heaven, and these are two of my officers." 

Mark smirked. "Rookies, is more like it. Lucifer told me that there are very few Angels in Heaven who know how to fight any more. Should make you all ripe for the picking, when we get up there." 

Ethan's heart sank. He'd been saying for ages that he needed more help. The men that he had as recruits were all very green, and none of them had combat experience. But he wasn't about to admit that to Mark, of course. 

"Well then, why haven't you come, already?" Ethan retorted. 

"Because the Boss does everything on his own time, and in his own way," Mark replied. Truthfully, though, he had wondered the same thing. Of course, there was always the possibility that Lucifer could not get into Heaven. Likely, none of their group could. Mark was still technically an Angel, but he himself could not gain access any more. He knew that for a fact; he'd tried it, just to see. But he was sure that Lucifer must know a way, or at least, that he had a plan. 

Ethan nodded to the young recruits, and they drew their Angel blades. Mark raised his eyebrows. "Well, you're not a Demon and you're not a vampire, so you must be Mark," Ethan said. 

"Amazing powers of deduction," Mark said sarcastically. 

"I'm hereby placing you under arrest," Ethan said calmly, advancing on Mark. 

The Gospel writer was amused. "Are you, now?" he asked Ethan. "What are the charges?" 

Ethan's blood was boiling now. "How about the murder of your own wife, for starters?" 

Mark was slowly reaching into his pocket for his own blade, and incredibly to Ethan, he was smiling. "Yes, well, she got on my nerves," he said airily. "If you had been around yours a little longer, you'd have seen what I'm talking about." Mark was pleased to see the startled expression on Ethan's face. Lucifer knew a lot of things, and Mark was his right hand. 

Ethan lost his temper. He charged Mark, but Mark sidestepped him, and he waved his hand to send Ethan crashing into the china cabinet against the wall. Ethan hit it hard, and there was a loud smashing sound as all the dishes in it shattered. 

Chuck and Kevin had been heading downstairs when they heard the noise. Should they run back upstairs and investigate? But before they could react, Jason grabbed them both, and tossed them down the stairs. 

Bobby had gotten up, and he and Paul were circling each other now. Paul was starting to get his wind up now. Something was going on here. Bobby wasn't smiting him, or conjuring handcuffs, or calling in troops of Angels. Ever since they had knocked each other into the walls, all Bobby had been doing was what he was doing now: nothing. What the hell? What was he waiting for? 

Well, if Bobby wasn't going to do anything...Paul threw both of his arms out again, and this time he flung Bobby across a table, ass over teakettle. 

Bobby was in trouble. He only had ordinary powers, and he hadn't fought in a long time. Paul had gone easy on him so far because the young Demon was still under the impression that Bobby was God. But the longer this went on, the more likely it was that Paul would figure it out, and then Bobby would be toast. 

None of the Musketeers had responded to his earlier message, so it was time to call on the big guns. Bobby was laying on the floor in pain, and he could feel himself bleeding. He sent out an SOS to Cas on Angel Radio that he'd better come, quick. 

But Cas had a few problems of his own at the moment. 

He had deployed the other groups of Angels and humans to search the rooms, and then he, Gail, Sam, and Dean had continued straight through to the library. Cas had the advantage of knowing exactly where Crowley and Lucifer were, due to his direct frequency with Crowley. Cas figured if he sent the others to search the house, all that they would probably encounter would be ordinary Demons, leaving his group to deal with Lucifer himself, and probably his unholy triumvirate. If they were able to neutralize Lucifer, or at least incapacitate him, Castiel was sure they would be able to handle the others easily. 

They entered the library and, of course, Lucifer had been expecting them. He and Crowley were sitting in armchairs, sipping from brandy snifters. Very Masterpiece Theatre, Sam thought sardonically. How revolting. 

Lucifer set his snifter down and stood from his chair. "I didn't think you'd be bringing a lady, Castiel," he said, smirking. "But then again, from everything I've seen and heard, your wife may be a woman, but she ain't no lady." 

"Can I plug him now, Cas? Please?" Dean said. 

"By all means," Cas answered. "And make sure you aim for his mouth." 

Dean brought the gun out from behind his back and began to fire. Bang, bang, bang. Lucifer was smiling. "Really? A gun, Dean?" he taunted. Dean kept shooting. Bang, bang. Lucifer's smile faltered. Why did Dean keep shooting, and why had Castiel encouraged him to do so? He looked down at himself. His clothing had holes in it, and he was bleeding now. That didn't concern him. His body was a vessel after all, subject to most of the same physical properties that everyone else was subject to. So that didn't worry him. Two things did, however: One, the pain he was starting to feel, and Two, the smug grin on Dean Winchester's face. 

Ethan heard the gunshots off in the distance, but he had his own problems. 

By the time he had picked himself up off the floor, Mark had already killed one of the cadets with his own Angel blade, and he had the other one cornered. 

Ethan dove at Mark and knocked him sideways, and they began to fight. The rookie was trying to help Ethan, but he didn't want to hurt his boss by accident, either. 

Mark was smirking. He didn't mind fighting face to face, but it was amusing to him that all three of those guys were Angels, and not one of them had thought to use any of their powers on him. Even newer Angels were given rudimentary powers, yet these men all still acted like humans. When Lucifer rode into Heaven, he was going to make mincemeat out of those guys. What the hell were they doing up there in Heaven, baking cookies and making doilies? 

Ethan fought surprisingly well though, and Mark found himself being pinned to the table. Ethan had one hand around Mark's throat, and he held his Angel blade aloft. But he had never killed another Angel before, and he really didn't want to do so now. And Mark was an aide of Lucifer's; they might need to interrogate him. It would be rash to kill him right now. 

So Ethan said, "Give me the handcuffs." 

The young recruit had sigil handcuffs on his belt and he unclipped them and gave them to Ethan, who removed his hand from Mark's throat and grabbed Mark's arm. He spun Mark around and fastened the cuffs around his wrists. Then he hauled Mark to a standing position. 

"Congratulations, young Ethan," Mark said to him. "Maybe you'll get a citation for this." He'd watched lots of cop shows on TV with Felicia, and he could speak the terminology when he needed to. 

Then Mark smiled. "Then again, maybe not." The handcuffs clattered to the floor. Ethan looked at his erstwhile captive, astonished. "Really, Ethan?" Mark said sarcastically. "Did you really think that simple sigils were going to work on a Writer of the Gospels? Rank has its privileges, you know." 

"They worked on Castiel," Ethan blurted out. 

Mark's smile grew. "Did they, now? Interesting," he remarked. He bent down to the floor to scoop up the handcuffs. "Well, I'll just be taking these, then," he said. 

While Mark was bending down, the young Angel recruit tried to attack him, but Mark's reflexes were too quick. He snatched the handcuffs off the floor with one hand and straightened up immediately, driving his Angel blade into the young cadet's abdomen. The Angel doubled over, and Mark grabbed his head, pulled it back by the hair, and slit his throat. He dropped the Angel's body on the floor, pocketed the handcuffs, and looked at Ethan. 

"You're pretty good," Mark said cheerfully. "Sure you don't want to come over to our side?" 

"Never," Ethan snapped. 

Mark shrugged. "OK. Suit yourself. In the meantime, I think I'd better check in with the Boss. He may want to hear about these handcuffs. In fact, he might very well want to use them." 

A loud scream of pain sounded from outside the room, and Ethan's head snapped up. That had sounded like Chuck. 

"Go," Mark said to Ethan. Then he smiled. "If any more of you survive, come to the library. You may change your minds when you see what Lucifer can provide." Then he winked out of the room. 

Lucifer looked like he was in a lot of pain now, and Dean was smirking as the Devil bent over, clutching at his stomach. 

"You have two more shots!" Cas yelled at Dean. "What are you waiting for?" 

Dean levelled the gun, pointing it at Crowley's head. "Maybe we should save them for him," he said to Cas. 

"That's not what we discussed," Cas said angrily. "You're supposed to finish Lucifer!" 

"Finish me?" Lucifer said, amused. He began to dig his fingers into his body, looking for the bullets, despite the pain he was feeling. "It's going to take a lot more than a couple of pieces of lead with some freaky-ass patterns carved on them to do that." He plucked the bullets out of himself and threw them on the floor. 

Damn it! Dean had really had his hopes up, too. 

Lucifer waved his hand, and Dean's arm came up. Suddenly, he was holding the gun to his own head. 

"Aren't you tired of living, Dean?" Lucifer asked, with mock sympathy. "Wouldn't you just like to end it all? No more worrying, no more pain? No more watching your loved ones suffer." 

He waved his arm towards Sam, who fell to his knees. His eyes were bleeding. Then Lucifer grabbed Gail and took an Angel blade out of his shirt, holding it to her neck. 

Cas took out the Demon blade he had stashed in his blazer at the bunker before coming here, but of course, he could do nothing as long as Lucifer had a hold of Gail that way. He couldn't take the chance. Nonetheless, he had to do something, so he started to approach Lucifer slowly. Lucifer saw this, and he waved his blade hand at Cas, knocking him into one of the bookshelves. 

"I wasn't talking to you, Castiel," Lucifer said casually. He looked at Crowley, who had been silent up until now, enjoying the show. "Has he always been that rude?" 

"Yes, pretty much," Crowley confirmed, swirling the brandy around casually in his snifter. 

Gail had begun to struggle as soon as Lucifer had relaxed his grip on her in order to attack Cas, but now Lucifer's grip on her tightened again, and he put the blade back to her throat. His fingers dug into her flesh, and the blade nicked her skin, drawing blood. She gave a small cry, and Lucifer rolled his eyes. 

"Keep struggling, and it'll be worse," he told her. "I thought you were a lot tougher than that. What the hell, Gail? You've suffered worse treatment than this at your own husband's hands, haven't you?" Then Lucifer affected a sheepish look. "Oops. I guess we're not supposed to talk about that any more, are we?" 

"What are you talking about?" Sam said sharply. His eyes had stopped bleeding, but he was still on his knees, unable to rise. 

"Oh, nothing," Lucifer said innocently. Then he looked at Cas, who was picking himself up off the floor, eyeing Lucifer warily. Cas had seen the cut on Gail's neck and heard her cry, and his stomach was in knots. 

"Not so mouthy with a blade at your neck, are you?" Lucifer said into Gail's ear. "I should just wink you into the bedroom, while I have you at a disadvantage. The way I see it, you still kind of owe me, Sarah." He moved the blade up and caressed her face with it. "And you wouldn't be able to pop out from under me, this time. This whole place is covered in sigils. You and your hubby are powerless. But they don't affect me, or my - what do you call them, Crowley? - minions." 

As if on cue, Mark popped into the room, holding the sigil handcuffs in his hands. He now had both sets, one from each of the dead cadets. 

"Well, isn't that excellent timing," Lucifer said, smiling. "Give yourself a raise, Mark. Here, throw me one of those." Mark tossed him a pair of handcuffs, and then Lucifer smiled again, indicating Crowley with a nod of his head. "And give the other pair to the King." 

Mark handed the cuffs to Crowley, who took them, looking inquiringly at Lucifer. 

"Go ahead, Brother," Lucifer said, and then Crowley smiled, too. He rose from his chair and walked over to where Castiel stood. 

"Try it," Cas growled, and Crowley said, "Don't be so melodramatic, Castiel. We simply want to talk to you and Gail, but you can't be trusted not to go on the offensive, so we have to resort to these unseemly methods." He snapped his fingers, and the Demon blade disappeared from Castiel's hand. Then Crowley moved behind Cas, grabbing his arms and cuffing them behind him. Cas was beyond frustrated. Now he couldn't move, and it looked as though Crowley was double-crossing them. 

Lucifer cuffed Gail's hands behind her back too, then he pulled her by the arm and sat her down in an armchair. Crowley shoved Castiel towards another chair and pushed him down into it, hard. Then he looked at Sam and Dean, who were still immobilized and burning with frustration. 

"Sorry, this is just between us Originals," Crowley said to the brothers. He touched Sam's head and the blood was gone, then he took the gun away from Dean's hand and flipped the chamber open. He took one of the remaining bullets out and examined it, then put it back in the chamber, flipped it closed, and gave the gun back to Dean. "Never mind, it wouldn't have worked on me, anyway," he said, smirking. "I would think that you, of all people, would have known better." Cas and Gail exchanged puzzled glances. What was Crowley talking about? Then the King put one hand on Sam's head and the other on Dean's, and pushed them out of the room. 

Lucifer waved his hand at the double doors that led into the library and they slammed shut, locking themselves. 

"There," he said cheerfully. "Now we won't be disturbed." 

Sam and Dean reappeared out in the hallway by the front entrance of the house. "What the hell, Dean?" Sam exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do now?" 

"Boys," the Winchesters heard Bobby say weakly. They went into the room where the voice had come from and found Bobby on the floor, his head and hands bleeding. 

"What happened to you?" Dean said, kneeling at his side. 

"Paul attacked me," Bobby admitted, grimacing. "Maybe I need to attend your next training session. Guess my reflexes are a little slow." 

Dean and Sam exchanged glances. An ordinary Demon, getting the best of God like this? Lucifer accusing Cas of hurting Gail? Crowley stabbing them in the back? Okay, they probably should have seen that last one coming. But, still...What the hell was going on here? 

Sam looked around warily. "Where's Paul now?" 

"Dunno," Bobby said, groaning as Dean helped him to his feet. 

"We'd better go find the other guys," Sam said. "One of them can heal you, Bobby, and then we'll have to figure out how we're going to save Cas and Gail from the Diabolical Duo in there." 

The brothers explained the situation to Bobby as they began to search the house for their other Angel companions. They found the two dead recruits in the dining room and exchanged grim looks. 

Suddenly, Kevin burst into the room. "Come quick!" he exclaimed. "Jason's got Chuck!" 

They raced down the hallway after him and down the stairs to the basement. Chuck was lying on the basement floor and Jason was kneeling over him, feeding on him. Ethan was laying in the corner, dazed, unable to get up. When he'd heard Chuck scream, Mark had disappeared and Ethan had run down here to find Jason sinking his fangs into Chuck's neck and Kevin standing frozen, watching them. 

"Kevin!" Ethan had shouted, and then Jason had looked up. "Oh, good. Another Angel," he had smirked. Chuck's blood was smeared all over Jason's face, and Ethan couldn't take his eyes off of it. He felt nauseous. 

Jason had stood from Chuck's side and stared at Ethan. Ethan was transfixed, paralyzed at the sight of all the blood, and by Jason's eyes. Cas had told him that Jason was a vampire now, but it was still a shock to see him like this. 

Because Jason was now focused on Ethan, Kevin had been able to shake out of his stupor and run up the basement stairs to get help. 

Chuck had tried to get up from the floor while Jason was occupied with Ethan, but he found that he couldn't. The moment Jason had begun to feed on Chuck, he'd experienced a languor, a sense of relaxation that had permeated through his entire body. He'd closed his eyes as he felt Jason's mouth on his neck, and as the blood started to leave his body, Chuck had felt something he couldn't quite identify. 

"Chuck! Holy crap!" Dean shouted. He didn't particularly care for the guy, but he didn't want to see this happen to him, either. But Dean had something for Jason, something that would at least slow him down a little. When Cas had told them which of Lucifer's cohorts might be there, he had mentioned Jason. Dean may have some trouble handling the Devil, but he had zero problem when it came to vampires. He gave Sam a look. 

"Hey!" Sam yelled at Jason. "That guy's an Angel! I'm human; it's my blood that you need." 

Jason frowned. Unfortunately, that was true. Although he'd found Angel blood to be rich and sweet, it had no real sustenance. It was like cheesecake; it was nice as a treat, but it didn't supply the nutrition that the meat and potatoes of human blood did. The only exception he had ever experienced to this apparent rule was that one time he had tasted that would-be assassin's blood in the theatre in L.A. That blood had tasted different, special somehow. Like if he were able to keep a steady supply of it coursing through him, that would be all he would need. Strange. 

Sam took out a knife and made a small cut in his arm, just enough so Jason could see the blood rise from the wound. Now it was Jason who was mesmerized. He rose from Chuck, and started to move towards Sam. 

When Jason got close enough, Dean took the syringe out of his jacket pocket and jabbed it into Jason's neck, injecting him with the infected blood. Jason roared, and he grabbed Dean, hurling him across the room. 

Ethan went to Chuck, helping him to his feet. "Bobby, we can't do anything," the young Angel yelled. "Our powers don't work here!" 

Bobby's brow furrowed. How could that be? He'd been able to counter Paul's attack, upstairs. 

"The house is crawling with sigils," Kevin said tersely. "I can feel them." 

"Great," Dean said sarcastically. So none of the Angels were going to be of any use to them. He'd been hoping that Lucifer was lying. 

But Bobby was wondering about the sigils now. He was no longer God, and he seemed to have the powers of an ordinary Angel. Yet apparently, none of the others could use their powers at all in this house, Cas and Gail included. But it appeared as though Bobby somehow could. So he threw his arms out and knocked Jason into the cellar wall. 

"Well, what do you know, boys?" Bobby said happily. "It looks like I can be of some help, after all." He waited until Jason struggled to his feet, then knocked him into the wall again. 

"What did you give me?" Jason snarled at Dean. 

"Blood, with a shot of Leviathan in it," Dean told him. "It'll mess you up for a while." 

Jason glared at him. "What do you mean?" he demanded. 

"You'll find out," Sam said with a grim smile. 

"You're lucky I only brought enough to slow you down," Dean added. He looked at Bobby. "This guy's only a vampire. We can kill him anytime. But I think we'd better get Cas and Gail now. Considering who they're with, that better be our priority." 

Bobby agreed. Now that he'd realized he could still use his powers, he was eager to save Cas and Gail, and the first thing he was going to do when he did would be to apologize to them both. Life was too short, and he had been pretty rough on them. What were Lucifer and Crowley doing to them right now? 

Lucifer was currently pacing the floor in front of the Angels, smiling at both of them. Crowley had re-taken his seat and picked up his brandy snifter again, looking calmly at all three of them. 

"What are you both looking at?" Castiel snapped. He was afraid for Gail, and he was beyond angry that Crowley had betrayed them. Had this been the plan all along? What the hell had Cas been thinking, letting Crowley lead them all here? Had he really thought that he could trust the King of Hell? 

"The two of you, that's what I'm looking at," Lucifer said casually. "Angels. Originals. Newlyweds, too. I can't make up my mind if that's sweet, or if it's nauseating. I think I'm gonna go with...nauseating. So you vowed obedience to her, did you, Castiel? Well, aren't you just Heaven's answer to James Dean. Rebel Without A Freaking Clue. Maybe you think you're being modern and progressive, but I think you're just whipped. What do you say to that?" 

Cas shrugged. "I don't care what you think. You have no idea what you're talking about. No one will ever love you." 

Lucifer smiled coldly. "You're probably right. Although, given the opportunity, I could probably show whoever I was with a pretty good time." He paused behind Gail's chair and leaned down, talking in her ear. "I was denied the opportunity in L.A., but there weren't any sigils there. Just try to pop out now. Go ahead. Awwww, you can't, can you?" 

Gail said nothing, but she was fuming. Of course she couldn't, and they all knew it. Neither she nor Cas had any powers here. Great. Now what? 

Lucifer stroked her cheek with one finger, and Gail turned her head away from him. "What's the matter?" he taunted her. "Is that ring on your finger making you a little shy? That's why you should seriously consider joining my side." Crowley cleared his throat, and Lucifer smirked. "Sorry. OUR side." He gave Gail's ear a little lick and she jerked her head to the other side with a look of disgust. "If you joined my team, you wouldn't have to worry about fidelity anymore," Lucifer continued. "I know that Castiel hasn't had any variety at all in his love life, and I'm willing to bet you haven't, either. I'm the Devil, and I've got the Devil's tongue. I could do things to you with it that you wouldn't believe. Things I know you would like." 

Gail had had enough. "You're disgusting," she told him. "Oh, and you're delusional, too. What makes you think that I would ever join you?" She looked at Cas. "That either of us would?" she amended. 

"Because you already have," Lucifer crooned in her ear. He had knelt down beside her now and he was talking close, knowing that his nearness was bothering her. And Castiel looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. 

"What do you mean, we already have?" Gail shot back. 

"Remember our first meeting?" Lucifer asked her softly. "Remember what Castiel was then? What he was like at home? How did Alexander and Xavier end up in Hell, anyway? Or are we just in denial about that whole thing because his halo is back, and because you've made the ultimate commitment to him now? No backing out now, is there? But what about if he decided to go dark again? How much motivation do you think he would need to do that?" 

"I will never do that," Castiel insisted. "Never again." 

"Are you sure, Cas? Are you sure?" Lucifer taunted him. "Not even for the right incentive?" 

"And that would be...what?" Cas scoffed. 

Lucifer stood up and walked towards his Brother, his eyes sparkling with glee. He was enjoying this. "Why, what you've always wanted, of course," he replied. 

Cas tilted his head. "You're not making any sense. I already have everything I could ever want. Much more than I deserve." He looked at Gail, his expression softening. "I'm married to the love of my life, I have friends, family, and respect in Heaven. Our Father loves me again and endorses our union. And we will prevail." Then he frowned. "Your threatening to take those things away from me is hardly going to motivate me to join your side." 

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "I know that, Castiel. I'm not an idiot. I know you, and I know the way your mind works. And you're absolutely right. I'm not going to take any of that away from you. I'm going to sweeten the deal. I know that your fondest desire is to live your life over again, the right way, this time. Not only would you have everything you have now, and even more, but you could have it a lot sooner. And you could fix yourself, Cas. If you had to do it all over again, there wouldn't be any screw-ups, or any murders, or Leviathans, or Metatron. You could have met Gail at the very beginning. If you had made different choices along the way, God would never have lost love for you, and you never would have succumbed to your weaknesses." 

Oh, what a wonderful deal that would be. Cas's stomach fluttered as he thought about the possibilities. Imagine a chance for the ultimate do-over. Knowing what he knew now, and being the person he was now, there was so much that Castiel would do differently. Lucifer was right; that was Cas's fondest desire, one he had never expressed out loud, not even to Gail. There were so many things he could put right, so many poor decisions that he could go back and change. Could he indeed have met Gail at the very beginning of it all? Castiel believed that Lucifer might be telling the truth on that score. He had long felt that he and Gail had that type of connection, almost as if they had been meant to meet much, much earlier than they had. In a lot of ways, when they had met at the bunker, he'd felt that they knew each other already. Their meeting had almost seemed like an inevitability to him. When she had brought him the cure for his failing Grace, she was the only one who'd known exactly what he'd needed at that very moment. Could they have been destined to meet centuries ago, and could Castiel's choices have somehow prevented them from doing so? 

But Lucifer was a liar, and a cheat. Cas had made yet another bad decision when he had asked Lucifer to heal Gail at the bunker, and to modify her memory. Lucifer had technically done what he had promised to do, but, like everything else associated with the Devil, the promise had been perverted, and the deed had turned into dust in Cas's hands. Lucifer had modified Gail's memory, all right; so much so that she hadn't even known who she was, and Castiel had spent many agonizing months searching for her. No. Never again. Cas was not going to be led into temptation. 

"No," he told Lucifer shortly. "Get thee behind me." 

"Oh, you want me behind you?" Lucifer said, his lips twisting into an exaggerated leer. "Are you sure?" 

"Oh, why don't you just get to the point?" Crowley said, exasperated. "And they say it's me who's in love with the sound of my own voice. Just tell him, already." 

"What are you talking about?" Cas said sharply. 

"What he says is true," Crowley told Cas, and he turned his head to include Gail in what he was saying. "I know for a fact that Gail was there at the beginning. I saw her in the Garden." 

"When did you see her in the Garden?" Cas asked him suspiciously. 

"Just after I stabbed you," Crowley said, expressionless. 

Castiel laughed derisively. "So now he's got you lying for him, too? Well, if you think I'm that gullible, you're crazy. If she had been in the Garden, I would have seen her." 

"Not necessarily," Crowley replied. "I'm pretty sure you were already dead at that point. At least, she was wailing over you as if you were." 

"That actually happened?" Gail said dazedly. 

Cas looked at her, startled. "What?" 

She looked back at him. "I always thought that was a vision, or just my imagination. Do you remember taking me back to the Garden when I was on the verge of deciding whether to become an Angel?" 

"Of course I do," he answered quickly. 

"Well, when I saw that you were stabbed - " Gail gave Crowley a glare " - I ran over to you, wanting to heal you, but I couldn't." 

Castiel couldn't believe it. "So, you were really there? It wasn't just a vision? They're telling the truth?" 

"Apparently so," Gail replied, and she couldn't resist adding, "That's got to be a first." 

"And you tried to heal me?" Castiel asked her. 

Gail smiled wryly. "Yes, but I guess our Father had a problem with my trying to change the course of history. I can't imagine why." 

Cas was astounded. Gail had actually been present in the Garden that day, she had witnessed his murder, and she had tried to heal him? But he had died anyway. Obviously, God had intended for his Son to die. But then, why had Castiel not met Gail in the Garden prior to his murder? Or, why had he not met her sooner in the years between then and now? Was it as Gail had said, that their meeting sooner would have changed history? Well, so what if it had? They were married now, but as far as he was concerned, they should have been together all this time. Especially now that he knew what she had tried to do for him back then. 

"This changes everything," Cas said quietly. 

"What do you mean?" Gail asked him, puzzled. 

"Don't you see?" Cas said, agitated now. "We could have been together all this time. The course of our lives would have been totally different." 

Gail was wary. She could see Lucifer out of the corner of her eye, just standing over Cas and smiling. "Maybe so, Cas, but what does it matter now?" she asked him. 

"What does it matter?" Lucifer echoed. "It matters a great deal. Wouldn't you like your life to have been different too, Gail? You and your beloved could have been together all this time. No loneliness, no sense of isolation. The two of you together, blissfully in love, witnessing all of the great moments in history. Maybe shaping a few of them yourselves. Womens' rights, established centuries sooner. You and Castiel, Heaven's role models. And God loved His Son and Daughter so much that He made you both immortal." 

"There was never any tribunal, and you were never Demons," Crowley chimed in. "In fact, you had no dealings with me at all until Lucifer came back." 

"That's the best thing I've ever heard you say," Cas quipped, and Gail's mouth twitched. "So, as long as we have to sit here and listen to this fairy tale," Cas continued, "what happens then?" 

Lucifer smiled coldly. "You join me, of course. You will have had your millenniums of bliss, and by the time I come along, Heaven will be done. Hey, it's done right now. Our Father has abdicated, and Crowley tells me that Bobby is God in name only now. And except for you, Castiel, and your ragtag little group of Angel trainees, and your eminently mortal humans, no one there can wield anything more dangerous than a letter opener. The tide is turning, Castiel, and it's time for the so-called 'bad guys' to take over. But, you know what? We're not really the bad guys." 

Castiel snorted in derision. "Oh, you're not?" 

"No, we're not," Lucifer insisted. "We just want people to feel free to be themselves. Heaven has too many rules. Thou shalt not this, thou shalt not that. So, we want to behave a little badly sometimes. Who cares? I know you can relate to that, 'Cas'." 

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me with this," Gail said, rolling her eyes. "Who are you, Jessica Rabbit?" 

Lucifer looked at her, puzzled. 

"'I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way'," she quoted in a mocking voice. She had watched the movie back in the bunker with Cas, Frank, Dean and Robbie, and the image had stuck with her. The men were all silent. "Oh, come on," Gail said. "Remember, Cas?" She let out a frustrated breath. She'd had it with Lucifer. What was he trying to do now, talk them to death? "You know all kinds of things you're not supposed to know, but you don't know who framed Roger Rabbit?" she said to him now. 

Now Cas's lips started to twitch as he realized what Gail was talking about. He'd only been paying partial attention to the movie at the time, because he had been lost in thought. And then Gail's hand had touched his thigh under the blanket they'd both had on their laps, and he had spent the rest of the night alternately wishing for it not to be there and wishing for it to go a little higher. That had been a day or so before his bachelor party. "He never knows anything really important," Cas said to Gail now, and they smiled at each other. 

Crowley was getting annoyed. He had come here with the full intention of helping the Angels, but once Lucifer had gone to work on him, the King of Hell had started to rethink his position. He didn't trust Lucifer as far as he could throw him, but once they had sat down and had a drink together like civilized entities should do, Crowley realized that he might have been backing the wrong horse this whole time. So, when the Angels had arrived with the Winchesters, Crowley had decided to do nothing, and watch Lucifer in action. The Devil had insisted that he could persuade the Angels to join their side still, and Crowley had been curious enough to sit back and watch. But now, it seemed that Lucifer was unwilling, or unable, to close the deal. What did they need these two for, anyway? Yes, Castiel and Gail were Originals, but anyone else who opposed Crowley and Lucifer was either mortal, or woefully undertrained. Crowley had made those points to Lucifer, who had nodded. "I see what you're saying," he'd told the King, "but I have a test arranged for our Brother and Gail. Let's see how they do, and then we'll talk. But in the meantime, I still think I can turn them. Well, him, at least. And if I can do that, she'll follow. Screw that 'obedience' crap. He wears the pants, not her." 

Crowley had looked at Lucifer for a moment, startled. How had he known...? Then he remembered: he'd told Lucifer about Castiel's having vowed obedience and subservience at the ceremony. How much brandy had the Devil given him, anyway, and what had he put in it? Lucifer may have entranced Crowley's and Castiel's parents when he'd been wearing snakeskin, but Crowley was generally the one who baffled and bamboozled people, not the other way around. 

"Would you just get on with it?" Crowley said irritably. 

Lucifer looked at him, eyebrows raised. He'd been having fun sparring with the couple, but Crowley was looking awfully cranky now, and Lucifer knew their Brother was irascible at the best of times. So he figured he'd better do it. 

He had been drifting over Gail's way when she had spoken to him. But now Lucifer walked over to where Cas sat, looking down at him. "Think about it, Cas," Lucifer said. "I'll send you and Gail all the way back. You know I can do it. You'll have centuries and centuries of bliss together before you even have to think about this conversation." 

Cas slowly began to smile, and Gail was looking forward to him telling Lucifer to shove it, or whatever the Biblical equivalent was. Lucifer would be angry, and they would probably pay the price, but she was sick of being played with, and sick of Lucifer's stupid face. 

"It's a deal," Cas said. 

"Terrific," Lucifer said, grinning. He put his hand on Cas's head and gave him the mighty push, and then he walked over to Gail's chair. She had opened her eyes wide in shock when she'd heard Cas accept, but then she had closed them again against the blinding green glow that had emanated from Lucifer's hand when he'd sent Cas back. 

When she opened her eyes, Cas had disappeared. "No," she murmured. This had to be a trick, or an illusion. There was no way. "What did you do to him?" she asked Lucifer suspiciously. 

"I just gave your husband exactly what he wanted," Lucifer told her cheerfully. He reached out his arm, stopping just short of touching her forehead. "'Hasta la vista, Baby'," he said to her, grinning nastily. "I watch movies too, Sarah. Good luck with Creation Castiel." 

Then he touched her forehead. The green glow blinded her again, and then everything went black. 

VIGNETTE - HELLO, I LOVE YOU 

Abel sat down on the blanket beside his wife. 

"You look tired, my husband," she told him softly, touching his face. "Why don't you rest, and I'll get you some water, and something to eat?" 

He smiled and lay down, but as she started to rise, he reached up and pulled her down on top of him, and she laughed. Then he rolled her over on her back and kissed her on the mouth. 

"This is the only sustenance I need," Abel told Sarah. He kissed her again, opening her mouth with his tongue. She gave him hers, sighing contentedly. Every evening when he came back to her from the field, it was the same. He didn't want her to bring him anything until they made love. It didn't matter how tired he might feel, he wanted her as soon as he saw her at the end of the day. And Sarah was happy to oblige; she loved Abel more than life itself. 

So she lay back as he disrobed them both, and she cried out in joy when he entered her, stroking her gently as he did so. There were only the sheep to hear. They had been out here for a couple of years now, he guessed, with only each other and the animals for companions. And neither species was complaining. 

Once the two of them had made love a couple of times, they would cuddle for a few minutes, and then Sarah would rise and fetch him water and food. She would sit quietly as he ate, telling her about his day. Sometimes he would feed her some of what he was eating, and if she happened to lick his fingers a little too much while receiving the food, he would get so excited that he would make love to her again. 

Then they would lay on the blanket and look at the stars, cuddling and talking. They would talk about the future, and what they imagined might happen in it. At some point, Abel was sure that they would encounter others. After all, he had found her, hadn't he? 

Sarah had been wandering around the desert, lost, not knowing how she had come to be there, or even how she had come to be at all. Who was she? Where had she come from? After a time, she reached the end of the desert and came upon a forest, and then a meadow. She had grown tired of walking around aimlessly, and her feet hurt. So she had sat down underneath a tree and closed her eyes. What did the Creator want her to do? What was her purpose? 

She dozed for a while, and then she started awake when she felt a nudge on her arm. Sarah opened her eyes and beheld a sheep. It looked at her and gave a low bleat, almost as if it was introducing itself. Sarah smiled. 

Abel was astonished. He'd never seen another person before, besides his parents and his brother Cain, of course. He had just come to accept that that was the way that things were, but he'd also had the feeling for a while now that the situation was about to change. 

"Hello," he said to her. 

Sarah looked up at him. She hadn't seen another person in her wanderings either, but she'd known that there had to be others. This man looked pleasant enough, and he'd addressed her in a gentle tone. "Hello," she responded. 

"My name is Abel," he told her. 

Now Sarah didn't know what to say. She didn't know what her name was, or if she even had one. 

Abel misunderstood her silence. "Please don't be frightened," he said to her. "I mean you no harm. Are you here by yourself? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" 

She nodded shyly. "Yes." 

Abel smiled. "To which question?" he asked her, amused. 

"To all of them," Sarah replied. 

"Then come with me, if you want," he said. "I will give you something to eat, and something to drink." 

Sarah tried to rise, but she had been walking for so long without a rest that she faltered. Abel saw her struggle. 

"Let me help you," he said, leaning down and putting his arms around her waist. "Put your hands around my neck," he instructed her, and she did. He pulled her to her feet and continued to hold her steady as she tottered on her feet. 

She held onto him gratefully. "Thank you," Sarah said softly. "I've been walking for a long time, I guess." 

Abel looked at her with compassion. "If you'll indulge me, then..." He scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to where he had spread the blanket in preparation for his lunch, setting her down on it gently. Then he sat down beside her and handed him some water, then some bread and cheese. She thanked him again and started to eat. She hadn't even realized that she was hungry. 

He asked her some more questions as they ate, and Sarah told him that she couldn't answer any of them. She had just found herself wandering one day, that was all. She had no idea where she'd come from, or what her identity was. 

"Well, you've got to have a name, at least," he said. "So I'm going to call you Sarah." 

She thought about that for a moment. "I like that," she told him. "Sarah. That sounds nice." 

So they started wandering together from that day forward. It was never discussed, it just seemed natural that they should be constant companions. They had both been lonely without really realizing that was what the feeling was, and they were both quiet and introspective, not feeling the need to constantly converse. But when they did, they looked into each other's eyes, and their attraction to each other steadily grew. They started sitting a little closer together on the blanket when they rested, and when Abel would hand Sarah a drink of water, his hand would linger for a moment until she took it and her hand touched his. Then Sarah would keep her hand there for a couple of moments, maintaining the eye contact, and then she would look away shyly. 

Abel had seen his mother and father kiss many times when he had been younger, and the last time he'd seen them, they were still doing it, despite their advanced age. And he knew that there was more to the act of love than that, though he'd never had that conversation with his parents. It had seemed like a moot point, he supposed, when their little family seemed to be the only humans around. But now everything had changed for him, and he wanted to have the type of relationship with Sarah that his parents had with each other. Did she want that, too? 

He supposed there was only one way to find out. The next time they sat on the blanket together, he looked at her and said, "There's something I've been wanting to do for a while now, and I was wondering how you would feel about it." 

Sarah looked at him. "What's that?" 

Abel let out a breath, then he breathed deeply again, trying to work up the courage. 

Sarah was curious. Abel was meek and soft-spoken, as was she herself, but this felt different. He seemed suddenly nervous, and that was strange to her. Why should he be nervous? 

"What's the matter, Abel?" Sarah asked him softly. "Please, tell me." 

He took another deep breath, and then he reached out and pulled her to him, kissing her on the lips. Then he released her. "How do you feel?" he asked her. 

Sarah thought about it. "I don't know," she admitted. 

Abel frowned. She hadn't liked it. He had been too bold. He was preparing to speak his apology when she smiled. "I think we'll have to try it again, and then I'll tell you." 

He smiled with relief. He took both of her hands in his, then leaned forward and kissed her again. He was tentative at first, but when he felt her gently squeeze his hands, Abel let go of her hands and put his arms around her. She put her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of the kiss. 

Then he opened her mouth with his tongue, and her eyes flew wide open in surprise. But his arms were wrapped tightly around her now, and she was enjoying his nearness, so when his tongue darted into her mouth, she touched it with hers. He made a low sound in his throat and started to lower her down onto the blanket. 

Sarah broke the kiss. "What are you doing?" she asked him curiously. 

He smiled shyly. "I don't really know," he told her charmingly, "but I thought we could figure it out together." 

She answered his smile. "I think we can do that. But you'll have to help me, Abel. I want to do the right thing, but I don't know how." 

"Nor do I, but I'm not concerned," he said softly. "I love you, Sarah." Then he kissed her again and lowered her onto the blanket. He loved her? He loved her! 

Then his hands were under her clothing, and he was kissing her body, and then his lips and tongue were on her intimate areas. She cried out that she loved him too, and then she just cried out. Then she touched him, and he gasped out loud. She guided him into her and he made love to her, moaning and whispering terms of endearment into her ear. She clung to him as he moved in and out of her, and when she told him again that she loved him, he cried out her name, and then he was still. 

They lay together afterwards, arms wrapped around each other, kissing each other and smiling, speechless with joy. Then they dressed slowly, and then they got down on their knees and prayed to their Father. What were they supposed to do now? Was what they had just done a sin? 

God spoke aloud to them, telling them that they had done nothing wrong and in fact, He had put Sarah on the Earth to be Abel's mate. Now that they had consummated their relationship, they were truly husband and wife, and God advised that their life together would last an eternity, and so would their love. Whatever happened in the future, they should have faith in that, and in Him. As long as they remained God's children, they would receive His blessings. But if they were ever to turn their backs on Him, they would know nothing but heartbreak and misery. 

Abel and Sarah looked at each other and clasped hands. He was their Creator, their Father. Of course they would never turn their backs on Him. They owed their very existences to Him, and now He had given them each other. 

Several years passed, and their day-to-day lives remained unchanged. Abel and Sarah were blissfully happy with their simple existence. She fed him in the morning, and then he would take the sheep out for a graze. Then he would explore the area he took them to that day, foraging for food, and then come back to where she was, if he was close enough to where they had camped the night before. He would bring her what he had found, and she would do whatever she could with it. Then she would build a fire and prepare some food, or she would sew them some clothing from bits of material or mend the clothing that they already had. Sometimes she would go down to the river and wash their clothes, and he would wander further on those days, taking a bedroll if he went quite far, dozing on it in the afternoon while the sheep grazed. But he would always return to her at night, no matter how far he had roamed. Abel had vowed that he would never leave her to sleep alone. She became nervous when he was gone for too long, and there were wild animals and serpents that came out at night that he needed to protect her from. They had not encountered any other people in their travels, but Abel had been feeling a sense of foreboding for a while now, and he knew that something was about to happen. And when it did, he wanted his beloved Sarah with him. 

But God had other plans. The couple had had their idyllic first incarnation, but their Father needed them for another purpose now. So He spoke to Abel when his Son was out in the field one day, telling him that He wanted Abel to go West, where his brother Cain was to be found. Once he and Sarah got there and the brothers were reunited, both Cain and Abel were to make an offering to God to show their appreciation for all of the blessings that He had bestowed upon them. 

So Abel had hurried back to the campsite and advised his wife that they had to go West immediately, and she had obediently begun to pack their meagre belongings. 

After a couple of days' travel, they came upon another campsite. There was a man sitting by a fire eating, and he jumped up when they appeared, brandishing a knife. 

"Who goes there?" he said in an angry tone. 

"It's me, Brother," Abel said quietly. 

Cain dropped the knife as his brother came into the light cast by the campfire. Abel walked up to him and the two men embraced awkwardly. 

Sarah timidly edged up to the campfire. Abel pulled out of his brother's embrace and bade her to come near. "This is my wife, Sarah," Abel told Cain. 

Cain looked at her, wide-eyed. Like Abel, he too had thought that their family were the only ones. But now that he'd seen Sarah, it only made sense to him that God would have made others. Of course, his brother would be the one to receive a mate first, Cain thought, somewhat resentfully. 

But he hadn't seen his brother in a number of years, and Cain supposed he should be hospitable to the couple. So he invited them to sit down with him by the campfire. 

"Are you hungry? I have soup on the fire, and some bread," Cain said to them. 

Sarah moved towards the fire, and Abel sat down. "Sit, brother," he said to Cain. "Sarah will bring us the food." 

"Yes, please sit down and visit with your brother," Sarah said, smiling at Cain. "You two must have so much to talk about." She turned to the fire and started to dish up the soup as the men sat. Imagine having a brother, and parents. She had no idea what that would be like. Abel had seldom spoken about his family, and she had gotten the impression that he wasn't very close to them. Still, he and Cain hadn't seen each other for years, and she was sure that they would have plenty to say to each other after all that time. 

She brought them the soup and the bread, then took a little for herself. She sat quietly as the brothers conversed, and when they were finished eating, she gathered the dishes. 

Then Sarah came back to where Abel's brother sat, and she pointed to his tunic. "I can mend that for you, if you would like," she told him. Cain looked down to where she was pointing, and he noticed that there was a tear there. 

Cain smiled up at her. "I thought I had repaired that," he said. 

Sarah returned his smile. "Your brother is the same way," she said lightly. "It's much easier for me to do it, because my hands are much smaller. If you'll give it to me in the morning, I'll be happy to mend it for you." 

Cain thanked her, and as the brothers continued to talk, Sarah sat beside her husband and Abel put his arms around her, kissing her softly on the cheek. A short while later, the three of them laid down for the night around the dying campfire, Cain on his bedroll and Abel and Sarah in theirs. The couple fell asleep in each others' arms, but Cain laid awake for a while, looking at them. The resentment was creeping up on him again. God had always favoured Abel, and now He had given Abel a lovely and soft-spoken companion while Cain roamed alone, lonely and bitter. 

But Abel had said that the Creator had sent him here so that the brothers could make their offerings to Him, to show their appreciation. Perhaps if Cain were to make a good offering, he could receive a blessing like Sarah for himself. He drifted off to sleep with that thought in his mind. 

But it didn't go that way, of course. Both brothers made their offerings to the Father, but He had much preferred Abel's; or at least, that was how Cain had looked at it. And he was filled with jealousy and rage towards his brother because of that perception. So he went to confront him, and it was as a result of this confrontation that the First Murder occurred. Everyone who knows anything at all about the Bible knows these facts. 

But there were additional circumstances that had gone unreported. 

Cain had initially come back to the campsite, intending to confront his brother and demand that he leave. But Abel wasn't there, only Sarah was, and she advised Cain that his brother had taken the flock out to pasture. 

"Oh, but before you go out to see him, I wanted to give you your tunic back," Sarah told Cain. She handed it to him. "I double-stitched the seam, so it should be fine for a while," she added, smiling. 

Cain's anger lessened. It was not Sarah's fault that God loved Abel more. It was not even her fault that He had sent her to be Abel's wife. Abel had told his brother that she had just appeared one day, out of the blue, not knowing who she was or where she had come from. But then, why should Abel have a wife, and not Cain? How was that fair? Why should Cain be condemned to a life of loneliness? 

He grabbed Sarah and tried to kiss her, but she squirmed out of his arms and backed away. "I am your brother's wife," she said to him, "not yours. Please don't do that." 

Cain raised his arm as if to strike her, and Sarah closed her eyes, anticipating the blow. But it didn't come. She opened her eyes and looked at her brother-in-law, her eyes wide. Anyone who would make Gail's acquaintance very, very far in the future would recognize that look. The doe eyes. 

Cain lowered his arm slowly. "I'm sorry," he said softly. Then he turned his back on her and walked in the direction of the field. 

Sarah stood there motionless for a few minutes afterwards, trying to calm herself down. Abel's brother had scared her. He was so different that her husband in temperament. She didn't understand why he'd seemed so upset. Was it something that she had done? Should she apologize? 

Sarah decided that she should follow and talk to both brothers. Perhaps she could be bold enough to speak out for once. If she worked up the nerve to do so, maybe she could remind them that they were all family, and whatever the difficulty was, they should be able to work it out together. 

But when she got to the place where the brothers were, Cain was standing over Abel, his knife stained red with his brother's blood. Sarah screamed and ran to her husband, falling on her knees at his side. She called out his name, but his eyes were closed and he did not respond. 

Sarah looked up at Cain, who was backing away from them now. "What have you done?!" she exclaimed. 

Cain was shaking his head slowly, as if doing so would negate his action. What HAD he done? He had lost his temper. The instant he'd stabbed his brother, he'd wished he could take it back. But it was too late. 

"I have killed my brother," Cain said in a dull voice. "Better that I should be dead, too." 

"No, that would be too easy." God's voice boomed from the sky. "You will receive the Mark instead, and then you will roam the Earth bearing its stigma. Then I will make the three of you immortal, and you will spend eternity being bested by your brother and his wife. You will live in sin and misery, and they will live in love and happiness." 

A ray of light came down from Heaven and traced the Mark of Cain onto Crowley's arm as Gail continued to weep over Castiel's body. The ray of light reshaped itself to resemble a human hand, and God touched her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. 

"Abel is with Me now," God told her. "You may continue to live out your life on Earth until it is time for you to come here, or I can take you now. It is your choice. I know you like to be asked." Incredibly, she thought she could hear a smile in His voice. 

"Please take me now," Gail sobbed. "I don't want to live without my husband." 

God nodded. He'd figured as much. He touched her forehead and she fell dead of a brain aneurysm. Then He waved His hand over his Son's and Daughter's bodies, vanishing them from the Earth. 

And Cain fled in terror. 

Castiel was standing in God's office, waiting for her. Once God had put His hand on Sarah's forehead, Gail appeared in His office a moment later. She and Cas ran to each other and embraced fiercely. 

Gail was crying. "I thought I'd lost you," she said, burying her face in his chest. 

He turned her chin up to look at him. "You will never lose me," he told her. "Our Father has promised us immortality, if we remain faithful to Him." 

She smiled through her tears. "So, what do we do now, my husband?" 

"Anything we want to, my wife," he said, and he kissed her. 

Centuries passed, and the Angels were blissfully happy. Castiel and Gail had witnessed many great moments in history, and they were leaders in Heaven. Because they were God's Golden Couple, the Almighty had relaxed many of the ancient rules to their favour, so they were able to be physically intimate any time they chose. And so were their fellow Angels, whether they be straight, or gay. Cas had persuaded his Father that happy Angels were productive Angels, and the more love that was shared in Heaven, the better off they all would be. 

But something was wrong. Cas loved Gail with all his heart and soul, but he would look at her sometimes and wonder who she truly was. She seemed more Sarah than Gail most of the time. When he had been Abel, their temperaments had matched, but when he became Castiel, he became much more passionate as an individual. But Gail had remained passive, and she never really voiced her opinion on any issue one way or the other, always simply siding with him. She was sweet, beautiful, and intelligent, everything that the old Castiel would have wished for in a mate. But Cas was growing increasingly agitated. 

One morning, they were discussing the formation of the new board in Heaven. Some of the longer-serving Angels wished to retire, and God had asked Castiel to suggest some other Angels to take their places. 

Cas was getting dressed, and Gail was sitting on the bed waiting for him. "Who do you think would be a good choice to take a seat on the board?" he asked her. 

Gail shrugged. "I don't know. Whichever man you think would do the best job, I guess." 

He tried a different approach. "Don't you think it's time to have a woman sit on the board?" 

"If you think so," Gail responded. 

She was driving him nuts. It was time to force the issue. "I don't think there should be a woman on the board," he said, turning to look straight at her. "They're too indecisive, and they would just have to defer to the men anyway, in the end." Cas braced himself for the reaction that he would normally get from Gail. That he was hoping to get from her. 

She rose from the bed and walked towards him. Here it came, he thought happily. Maybe she would even try to slap him. She wasn't normally physical in that manner, but he'd seen her do it before, when she'd been really angry. But that was in another life, and in another time. 

Gail fixed the collar of his shirt. "You're probably right," she said, nodding in agreement with his statement. 

Cas grabbed her arm. "I'm right?" he said incredulously. "Since when?" 

She smiled. "Since always. Since I vowed obedience and subservience to you." 

Cas's blood ran cold. "You didn't vow obedience and subservience to me. I was the one who made that vow to you." 

Gail laughed. "That's funny. You've got quite the imagination, my husband." 

Cas was scared now, and he was getting angry, as well. He had made the deal with Lucifer in good faith, but Cas had also been testing him, and here was the proof that he had been right. He put his hand on Gail's forehead, temporarily freezing her, and shouted: "Lucifer!" 

Lucifer popped into their room in Heaven. "You bellowed?" he said insolently. 

"I knew you could not be trusted to keep an honest deal, and now I have my proof," Castiel said to him. 

"What is your problem, Castiel?" Lucifer asked him irritably. "I have given you everything that you ever wanted, and you're still not happy. What more could you possibly want?" 

"Well, now that you mention it, I'd like to see you dead," Cas said casually. "But in the meantime, I'll settle for returning to my current existence. The deal is off." 

"Why?" Lucifer asked him, surprised. 

"Because you have altered Gail, yet again," Cas retorted. "She is not Gail, she is Sarah." 

"Yeah, and she's right here," Lucifer said, waving his hand at her in frustration. Gail became reanimated, and she looked at both men, puzzled. 

"But she's not Gail!" Cas exclaimed. 

"She's not?" Lucifer said, affecting innocence. He looked at Gail. "Who are you, honey?" he asked her in a sickeningly sweet tone. 

"I'm Gail," she said pleasantly. "Who are you? Are you a friend of Castiel's?" 

Cas was extremely angry now. "He's no friend of ours, and if you were yourself, you would know that." 

Tears started to form in Gail's eyes. All she did was love Castiel, but he was always so cross with her lately. It seemed as if he was deliberately trying to provoke a fight with her, and she didn't know why he would want to do that. But he seemed to be looking for something from her, and she had no idea what that could be. 

"I'm sorry, Castiel," she said sadly. "I'll try harder to be the kind of wife you want me to be." 

Cas looked at Lucifer. "There. That, right there. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The deal is off. I'm taking her back." He moved forward and put his hand on Gail's forehead, winking them both to the mansion. 

VIGNETTE - IF SHE KNEW WHAT SHE WANTS 

Gail sighed with relief. It had obviously been a trick. An optical illusion. Cas was sitting right here. He hadn't disappeared at all. 

"No deal," Cas was saying to Lucifer. 

Lucifer frowned, but he turned towards Gail. "OK, then. How about you?" 

"What about me?" she retorted. 

"Maybe YOU want to take the deal," he said, approaching her. "Have the chance to live your life over again. You could meet your real parents. Or you could still grow up with Frank's, if you'd prefer. Up to you. But, think about it, Gail. You could reinvent yourself. I know there's a lot that you don't like about yourself, and your life. Do you want to be taller? Beautiful? Sexier? Maybe you want to go back and have some more experiences with men. We tease you about that, but we know you were pure as the driven snow when you married Castiel. You should at least have let Crowley have a shot. Or, me. How about Sam, or Dean? Or, Sam AND Dean?" Lucifer added, raising an eyebrow and leering at her. "You were there at the bunker alone with the two of them many, many times. Are you sure you wouldn't have liked it if they'd both have come into your room one night and gotten into bed with you? One in front of you, and the other behind? 'Fess up, Gail. Wouldn't that be hot? I'd be into it." 

"Well, why don't YOU do it, then?" she shot back. "Better still, why don't you go do it to yourself?" 

Cas's face broke into a grin. THAT was the Gail he knew and loved. He had no regrets turning down Lucifer's deal. Even though his life would have been idyllic in a lot of ways, the Gail that he was with in Lucifer's fantasy was not the Gail Cas had fallen in love with, nor the Gail that he wanted. One of the many reasons he loved her so much was because of her passions and her convictions. If he'd wanted a relationship with a submissive Angel, he could have had Aurielle, or one of many others. Gail pushed him, she challenged him, and she drove him crazy. She was the most wonderful woman he could ever want. 

But right now, he wanted her to have the same kind of epiphany that he'd had. Lucifer was offering Gail her own do-over, and Cas didn't want her to have any regrets, either. He looked at her face. She was regarding Lucifer with disgust, but she was also looking at Crowley now, and she had a curious expression on her face. 

What would Gail's life have been like if her parents had never been murdered by Crowley's Demons? Cas wondered. But then he had to remind himself that the parents she'd grown up with had not been hers, they had been Frank's. Gail had never met her real parents; she didn't even know who they were. Did she not deserve a chance to find that out, at least? 

However, if Gail had her life to live over, would she and Castiel have ever even met? If she had grown up under different circumstances, would she ever have even met Sam and Dean, let alone Cas? He didn't see how that would have been possible. But would she have been happy? 

Of course she would have. If she'd had a normal upbringing, Gail would never have become mixed up with Demons, or Winchesters, or Angels. And most specifically, with him. No violence, no murder, no tribunal, no abuse at Cas's hands. She would likely be married now to a nice, normal, human man. They would have a lovely, suburban house, maybe even a couple of children. 

He couldn't stand thinking about that, and he couldn't stand the thought of never having met her. He loved her more than anything, or anyone. He loved her more than life itself. But, if he loved her that much, shouldn't he want her to have the best life possible? She could be in a safe and secure environment, with a family to love and who loved her, rather than being here, tied up and threatened by Lucifer, sitting next to the King of Hell. Was Cas really that selfish? Wasn't he supposed to be a better Angel now? 

He sighed deeply. "I think you should take the deal, Gail." 

She looked at him sharply. "What?" 

Cas was staring into her eyes now. "You heard me. I think you deserve a chance to make your own choices, for a change. You could grow up with your real parents, or you could have a normal upbringing with Frank's parents. If you're truly to be given another chance for your life, they would not have been murdered, and you and Frank need never have gone on the run. Think about it, Gail. A whole new start for you." 

"But what about you?" she asked him, her brow furrowed. 

"What ABOUT me?" Cas said, trying to keep his voice light. 

"If Frank and I hadn't been kidnapped that night, - " she glared at Crowley again, who looked back at her impassively - "I wouldn't have met Sam and Dean. And if I'd never met them, I would never have met you." 

"I know," Cas said, keeping his tone steady. 

"And you're OK with that?" Gail asked him, astonished. 

"It doesn't matter what I think," he answered evasively. "It is your life that we're talking about now." 

Gail couldn't believe it. "How can you say that?!" she exclaimed. "We're married now! Of course it matters!" 

Cas's guts were churning now. "But we wouldn't be married if we'd never met," he managed to say. 

She was livid now. How could he say such a thing? She glared at him. He had no expression on his face, and no inflection in his voice. "So it's that easy, is it? It's that easy to just let go of me? What the hell were those vows about, then? I guess you just memorized some lines from a poetry book, or something. It doesn't matter, anyway. That's what you just said, right?" 

The pain in Cas's stomach and chest was excruciating now, but he said, "Yes. That's right." 

She continued to stare at him. This had to be some kind of a ruse. All the words of love he'd said to her over the years. All the times they'd smiled at each other and laughed together. The kisses, the lovemaking, the intimacy. She'd thought that he was as deeply in love with her as she was with him. But he couldn't be, not if he was advising her to just walk away from him like this. 

"So, you think I should take the deal?" Gail asked him. 

"Yes," he said shortly. But he couldn't look her in the eye. 

"Cas. Cas! Look at me!" she exclaimed, and his head snapped up. His blue eyes focused on her brown ones. "Do you think I should take the deal? Honestly?" she asked him again. 

"Yes," he said impassively, but he was dying inside. If she asked him one more time, he was going to go nuts. But he loved her for doing it, because it meant that she loved him enough not to want to let go of him. But he was insisting, because he loved her enough to force himself to let go of her. 

Gail looked at Lucifer. "All right, then. It's a deal," she told him. 

She gave Cas one more look before Lucifer's hand descended on her forehead. Cas's mask slipped a little, and as Lucifer's hand started to touch her, she could see how miserable Cas looked. "No, wait," she said hastily, but it was too late. The green glow came, and she was gone. 

Gail was helping Frank load the boxes into his car. Or, at least, she was trying to. Every box he'd packed weighed about 500 pounds, she'd complained, and she hadn't been able to carry hardly anything. But she had accompanied him anyway, from his room to the car and then back again. They'd kept up a steady stream of conversation throughout, and most of it had to do with Gail and her situation, rather than Frank and his. Even though he was the one who was going away to start a brand new life. 

"Last chance to come with me," Frank said, once he had loaded the final box. 

"No, I think I'll just stay here," Gail told him tonelessly. She'd been saying the same thing to him all week, but each time she'd said it with less and less conviction. 

Frank was frustrated. He knew she wanted to leave the house and strike out on her own, she was just too scared to do it. Gail had always been a timid girl, but to her credit, every time she'd seemed nervous about something, she had forced herself to do it anyway. It was as if she knew how timid she was but was determined to do something about it. When she had been in grade school, she had entered a Public Speaking competition, even though the very idea had paralyzed her with fear. She'd written her speech and performed it on stage in front of the whole school, and even though she'd only ranked 5th Place, the result had been a huge success for her, personally. She was afraid of dogs, but she made herself walk through the dog park. When she'd been very young, she was afraid of the dark, but she'd hung a bedsheet over her window and slept without a night-light. 

But this one would be huge. Frank was leaving their parents' house and their home town to go on a corporate training program, and he wanted Gail to come with him. They could get an apartment together so that he could help her financially while she went to college, and then she could get her own place, if she wanted. 

"I'll tell you what," Frank said. "Just throw a few things in a bag and come with me for a day or two. At least take a look at the place. With your grade level, they'll probably handcuff you to a desk and beg you to stay." He put his hands on her shoulders. "You've got to live your own life, Gail. Don't let anybody make your choices for you." He grinned. "Not even me." 

Gail swallowed. "OK, wait a minute, then," she told him. "I'll run up and get a bag. I'll be right back." 

She ran back into the house, and her brother smiled. Good. They loved their parents, but it was time for the siblings to fly and be free now. Their mom was a housewife and their dad was an insurance salesman, and nothing was ever going to happen in this sleepy little town. 

"Hi, Dean. Sam's told me a lot about you," Gail said, offering him her hand. 

"All bad, of course," Sam said, smirking. 

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Dean said, smiling. He took Gail's hand. "So, how'd my brother con you into going out with him?" 

"Well, we're not 'going out', going out," Sam said. "We're just friends, Dean." 

"Smart girl," Dean said to Gail. 

She smiled. She knew that Sam wanted to get out of the "friend zone", and that was one reason that he had taken her to meet his brother Dean. The brothers were very close, Gail knew, and they spent a lot of their free time together. 

"Let's get a table," Sam said, but Dean was shaking his head. "Just wait. Cas is a few blocks away. He called me just before you guys got here." 

"Cas?" Sam asked, incredulous. "Why's he coming?" 

Dean made a face. "I told him you were bringing Gail here to meet your family, and he just assumed that meant him, too. So he invited himself." 

"Well, couldn't you have just un-invited him?" Sam said, rolling his eyes. 

Dean gave him a look. "Come on, Sammy. You know how he is." 

Sam nodded. Yeah, he knew. Cas was a strange mixture of badass warrior and wounded puppy dog. Once he'd gotten it into his head that Sam was bringing Gail to meet him too, there was no way that Dean could have told him otherwise without hurting his feelings. So they would just have to make the best of it. 

"Cas is an old friend of the family, so he's pretty much like family," Sam said to Gail. "And he's a little...eccentric. But, he's OK." 

She smiled. Didn't most people have someone like that in their lives? She was looking forward to meeting him. 

"I'm sorry I'm late, Dean. I couldn't find a parking spot," Cas said from behind them. 

They all turned around, and Gail's mouth dropped open. She had expected an older man, kind of like an uncle. But this guy was gorgeous, even better-looking than Sam or Dean. Wait until she told Frank. He loved to hear about her adventures. Ever since he'd persuaded Gail to move away to college, she'd pushed herself to do things that she normally wouldn't have done. She'd met Sam in college, and she'd been very attracted to him, intellectually. He just had a quality about him that appealed to her. In a way, he reminded her of Frank. He was tall, funny, and he gave off a very protective vibe. They were both on the debate team, and during one very spirited debate, one of the other guys had gotten so carried away with his argument that he had called Gail a not-very-nice name, and Sam had threatened to punch the guy out if he didn't apologize to her immediately. The guy had, and the debate had carried on after that, but Sam had unnerved Gail's opponent so much that she'd won easily. She had hung around for hours after class that night to thank him, and he had ended up walking her to the campus pub after that, where they'd had a few drinks and talked. 

"If he'd called me an 'ignorant slut', though, I would have had to punch him myself," Gail had quipped, and Sam had laughed so hard at that that beer had come out of his nose. 

That was nearly a year ago, and they had been fast friends ever since. But even though Gail thought that Sam was attractive, and she knew that he would gladly take her to bed if she gave him the green light, she couldn't bring herself to do it, for some reason. Maybe she just needed more time. 

Ever the gentleman, Sam hadn't pushed her in any way. He'd made his preliminary moves, of course, but Gail had gently rebuffed him. He really liked her, though, and he'd wanted to at least remain friends. And, who knew? She could still change her mind. 

But as soon as Gail and Cas laid eyes on each other, the ballgame was over. When Sam introduced them and Cas reached out to take her hand, Gail blushed, and Cas stumbled over his words. When they went to the table, Cas rushed to pull out Gail's chair for her, but he was too late. She was a modern woman, of course, and she had seated herself. She hadn't anticipated anything like that. The brothers gave him a hard time about it, but Gail smiled at Cas and said, "Never mind those Neanderthals. Thank you; I thought it was a very sweet gesture." Then, when Gail had decided what she wanted to drink, Cas had jumped up from his seat and gotten it for her. 

Dean was bemused. "I've never seen him like this before," he'd said, looking at his friend, who was waiting at the bar. Then he looked at Gail. "I think you're freaking him out." 

"Me? What did I do?" Gail asked him. 

"Well, you're staring at him, for one thing," Sam said irritably. 

Oh, God. Was it that noticeable? "I am?" she said, embarrassed. She hadn't known it was that obvious. But he had the most beautiful blue eyes. And every time she'd looked at him, he'd been looking at her. "I'm sorry, Sam," she told him, shamefaced. "I'll stop." 

Sam and Dean exchanged glances, and Dean shrugged. That was Winchesterese for "Do you want to tell her, or should I?" Sam leaned in close to Gail. "There's something we should tell you about Cas." 

"Oh? And what's that?" she asked him. Here we go, she thought. Sam's jealous, so he's trying to tell me about some of Cas's bad points. She wondered how bad they could be. Anyone that sweet and that good-looking probably had something seriously wrong with him. 

"He's not exactly...human," Sam said. 

Gail stared at him, waiting for the punchline. When Sam didn't say anything further, she said, "Really? What is he, then? An alien? A robot? Actually, a guy who's that nice? He probably is." 

"Who's nice?" Cas asked. He put Gail's drink down in front of her and took the seat next to her. 

"You are, apparently," Dean said, smirking. 

"These guys are trying to tell me you're not actually a human," Gail said to Cas. 

"I'm not," he said, smiling. 

Oh, geez. She looked at all three men, rolling her eyes. They must pull this joke on girls all the time. "OK, I'll bite," she said. "What are you, then?" 

"I'm an Angel," he replied, looking at her earnestly. 

"Very funny," Gail said, smiling wryly. 

"Nobody's laughing," Dean said, taking a swig of his beer. 

"OK, I'm out of here," Gail said, standing from the table. "How much do I owe you for the drink?" 

"Nothing," Sam said glumly. "Don't worry about it." He'd figured this would be her reaction. He'd have to give her a chance to cool off and then call her in a day or so. They should never have let Cas come. 

"Fine. Whatever," Gail said, and she turned and left the table. She walked outside, looking for a cab, but of course, there wasn't one. 

"Why are you leaving?" Cas's voice, from behind her. 

Gail sighed and turned around. He was looking at her, and his expression was puzzled and hurt. 

"Really?" she said. "Seriously? Why do you think, Cas? You're all ridiculing me." 

"Don't you believe in Angels?" he asked her. 

"Yes, of course I do," she answered automatically. 

He smiled. "Then, what's the problem? Why couldn't I be one, then?" 

She thought about that for a moment. "Then what would you be doing here?" 

"It's a long story," he told her. "I could tell you about it over a cup of coffee, if you like. I wouldn't be having any, of course, but still..." 

"Thanks, but you're a stranger to me," Gail said. "I won't be going anywhere with you." 

"I would never do anything to harm you, Gail," he said, looking alarmed. "You're my person." 

She was shocked. "What? What did you say?" 

"Don't you remember, Gail?" Cas pleaded. 

Gail stood still, her mind racing. The funny thing was, she almost felt like she did remember, or that she should. But she'd never met Cas before, had she? Then why did she feel as if she had? And why couldn't she stop staring at him? And, why was she letting him take her in his arms now? 

"Please come back to me, Gail," he said, and she could see that he was crying now. "Please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean a word of what I said. I only wanted you to be happy." 

"I wouldn't be happy without you, Cas," she told him, and now she was crying, too. "Please, send me back." 

He put his hand on her forehead. 

Lucifer was enraged. "You took the deal!" he said to Gail angrily. "What the hell are you trying to pull?" 

"Not too much fun being lied to, is it?" Cas said coolly. 

"It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind," Gail said, shrugging. "The deal was made under duress. That's a bad deal, isn't it, Crowley?" 

The King of Hell looked at her, startled out of his reverie. He had been sitting here this whole time, wondering what he was even doing here. Vacillating as to which side he should be on. They were all crazy, as far as he was concerned. The Angels had each accepted a deal from Lucifer that they had subsequently reneged on. Why wasn't Lucifer getting anything in writing? Then again, if the deals he was offering were bogus, then Crowley couldn't blame them for backing out. Whatever else people might say about him, Crowley ran an honest deal. Evil and insidious, maybe. But honest. 

"What the hell are you playing at?" Crowley snapped, looking at Lucifer. "Are these legitimate deals you're offering, or aren't they?" 

"It all depends on your perspective," Lucifer said, shrugging. He was miffed now. "Some people are impossible to please." 

"More like, some people refuse to be sucked in by your dirty deals," Cas said derisively. 

"Did he not offer you your Fondest Desire?" Crowley asked Castiel, confused. "That's the way it's supposed to work." 

"Yes, it would work that way, if the deal was straight," Cas replied. "But it's not. He offered me my Fondest Desire with one hand, but he took my wife away with the other hand. And I coerced Gail into taking a deal she didn't really want to take. But we told him to wait, and he didn't." 

Gail looked at Cas. "You told him to wait?" 

"Yes, I did," he replied. "The instant he put his hand on your head, I regretted what I said to you. I was trying to be noble and unselfish. But I can't live without you, and I don't want you to live without me. If that's selfish, then let me be selfish." 

She smiled. "Then we're both selfish, because I don't want to live without you, either. What good is a do-over if I don't have you?" she said to him. 

Cas answered her smile. "And I don't want a submissive wife, I want you," he told her. 

"It sounds like you're running crooked deals," Crowley said to Lucifer with a frown. "In this instance, I'm afraid I have to side with the Angels." 

"Crooked deals," Lucifer scoffed. "Last time I looked, I didn't see a halo over your head. And I haven't had one in years." 

"Still, I can't be partners with someone with no honour," Crowley said diffidently. "I'm not even sure you understand the meaning of the 'Fondest Desires' deal. Offering these two a deal which does not include the other one is completely pointless. You have to know your target." 

Lucifer's eyes flashed red. "Are you trying to tell me my business?" he said, raising his voice. 

Crowley smirked. "Apparently, someone's got to. And you don't scare me one bit. In case you've forgotten, I'm in the business of evil, too." 

"Really? Well, maybe you want to take a look at your own Fondest Desire," Lucifer said, sneering. "Then you can come back and tell me I don't know what I'm doing." He rushed over to Crowley's chair, and the green light flashed once more. 

VIGNETTE - BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE 

Rowena sat behind the wheel of the car, waiting. Where were the others? They made her wait every day, those two. It was hard enough, being a single mother with three kids trying to make ends meet, without having those two hellions making her late for work more often than not. 

Little Castiel was already sitting in the back seat, of course. His school uniform was neat and tidy and he sat there quietly, staring out the window. He was the introspective one; the dreamer. Castiel was as good as gold, but his mind was often elsewhere. 

But when Fergus and Gail finally ran to the car and piled into the back seat, Castiel snapped to attention. If Fergus sat beside him, he had to guard against the inevitable pinching and bruising that would occur when his brother set upon him. If it got to be too painful, Castiel would cry, and then appeal to their mother. Rowena had to keep her eyes on the road, but she would admonish Fergus, who would glare at his brother and brand him a tattle-tale. Then, moments later, he would start up again. 

Things were much quieter whenever Gail got in the back seat first. It was almost always her fault that they ran late. She would stay up into the night reading her books by night light, even after her foster mother had told her to go to sleep. Whatever had possessed her to take that girl in when she already had two growing sons to raise, Rowena was sure she didn't know. But Gail had been living on the streets, and Rowena had felt sorry for the poor little thing. But even though Gail was grateful to have a roof over her head, she drove Rowena to distraction sometimes, however unwittingly. She and Fergus were as thick as thieves, and Castiel was way too shy to even talk to Gail most of the time. They were all still very young, but Rowena could tell that Castiel had the beginnings of a crush on Gail, and she suspected that Fergus might, as well. Great. Just great. 

Fast-forward, seven years. Rowena still drove the three of them to school, but usually not all at once. Their schedules differed now, and it wasn't her responsibility to keep track, it was theirs. They were young adults now, she had told them, and they would be treated as such. She would wait exactly ten minutes in front of the house, and that was all. If they were late, they would have to find their own way to school. 

Castiel was still soft-spoken and polite, and he was still a dreamer. He had grown into his looks, and he had many female admirers. He kept to himself, though. He would sometimes get a ride with Rowena, and other times he would take the bus. 

Fergus disliked the bus, and as a result, he would be in the car more often than not. He and Castiel could cohabit the back seat now without any trouble. Fergus couldn't be bothered to mess with his brother any more. Castiel was always quiet, with his head in the clouds, and Fergus was boisterous, and he liked to party. The two young men had nothing in common, so they had little to do with each other. 

Gail was somewhere in-between. She was still an avid reader, but she went out some nights, as well. If she'd been out late, she didn't usually bother to try to make the car. Rowena was serious about the ten-minute rule, and Gail would just as soon sleep in and take the bus. Sometimes she would blow off school altogether and go to a bookstore, or to the movie theatre. She and Fergus weren't as close as they once had been, but he had taken her to a few parties and introduced her around to his friends, and one night after a few too many drinks, they had ended up making out a bit. But as soon as Fergus had tried to slip his hands under her clothes, Gail had called a halt to the proceedings. Fergus was a lot of fun, but that just felt wrong, somehow. 

A couple of times, it had been just Gail and Castiel in the car, and the ride had been predictably quiet on those occasions. Castiel did speak to Gail from time to time now, but he still couldn't look at her for too long. It was as if her gaze would cause him to burst into flames, or something, Rowena thought with some amusement. The whole thing was kind of cute, really. 

Then, one day, Gail slept in and decided to blow off the day's classes in favour of an afternoon at the movies. She bought her ticket and walked towards the theatre, then she changed her mind and turned around to get some candy at the concession stand. And that was when she bumped into Castiel. 

"What are YOU doing here?" Gail asked him, surprised. 

He smiled faintly. "The same thing you are, I suspect. I've been wanting to see this movie for a while, and my classes all looked really dull today." 

Gail was amazed. She never would have dreamed that Castiel would have been the type to skip school. Even Fergus didn't do that. 

"I was just going to get some candy," she told him. "Do you want anything?" 

He looked alarmed. "Let me get it for you," Castiel said. "Go ahead and have a seat. I'll be right in." 

"I haven't told you what I want," Gail said, but Castiel smiled. "I know what you like," he said. "I pay attention." Then he turned around and left her to stand there, bemused. 

Castiel did know what kind of candy she liked, but he ended up getting five kinds, not knowing which she'd be in the mood for. He put them all in his pockets, and when he sat down next to her in the theatre, he began pulling the packs of candy out, showing them to her. 

Gail was amused. "Have you got the whole snack bar in there?" 

Castiel looked at her. "I know they're all your favourites, but I wasn't sure which you'd be in the mood for." 

That was sweet of him, she thought. She took one of the bags out of his hands. "Well, let's just start with this one and see how it goes," she said, her lips twitching. 

They sat companionably, watching the Coming Attractions. Gail had opened the bag of candy and she had tried to put it between them so that they could share, but the armrest was too precarious. So Castiel took the bag from her and set it on his thigh. And, once the lights went down, Gail got a couple of handfuls of candy without incident. But then one of the previews caught her attention, and the next time she reached for the candy bag, she missed and grabbed Castiel's thigh, instead. 

Gail looked at him. "I'm sorry," she said, with a shrug and a little smile. 

"What? I didn't hear you," he said, although he'd heard her perfectly well. 

She leaned closer to apologize again and he leaned forward at the same time, ostensibly to hear her better. But somehow their lips met instead, and he put his hands on her waist. Gail's hand was still on his thigh, and she squeezed his leg gently when he opened her mouth with his tongue. A moment later, she could feel that he was getting excited, and she moved her hand away. Castiel broke the kiss and looked at her. 

"I got carried away," he told her. "I apologize. Let's just watch the movie." He took his hands off her waist and turned back to the screen. 

Huh. Well, she guessed she had made out with both brothers, now. Did that make her a slut? Probably. But Gail didn't care. She had wanted to have a bit of experience in that area, just to see what the fuss was all about. Kissing Fergus had been all right, but it had been a little like trying on an outfit you knew you'd never actually wear in a million years. It was fun to try just for a minute, but you knew it wasn't right for you. 

But now, all she could think about was that kiss that she and Castiel had just shared, and when the movie started, she was still thinking about it. His lips had been so soft, and when his tongue had come looking for hers, she had wanted to get closer to him. And when she'd briefly touched him in his excited state, all she'd thought about then was how much she had wanted him to touch her in the same place. 

Castiel was pretending to watch the movie, but he kept stealing glances at Gail. What was she thinking right now? He was aroused, but he was also embarrassed. She had made an innocent mistake; maybe he had been too aggressive with her. He'd been wanting to try to kiss her for quite a while now, but he'd had no idea how to go about it. But, as soon as he realized she had felt his excitement, he had figured he should stop, or he might suddenly be molesting her, right out here in public. 

They watched the movie for another few minutes, and then Gail leaned over to him and said, "I think we should talk. Let's get out of here." 

Castiel looked at her, but she couldn't read his expression in the dark. But he nodded, then stood, and she followed him out of the theatre. 

He was resigned now. She was going to tell him that they had grown up in the same household, they were practically siblings, and she was going to ask him what the hell did he think he was doing? Then he would apologize and promise never to do it again. And then, he would have to go through life with just that one lone kiss and her hand momentarily on his thigh as his one sweet memory of how love truly felt. 

They went back to the house, where they knew they'd be alone. Castiel suggested they go downstairs and talk in his room. He had a basement suite all to himself now. Fergus had been offered the separate quarters first, as the older brother. But he had not deigned to sleep in a damp, musty basement. Then, Rowena thought that Gail might want it, to have her privacy from the two boys, but Castiel had pointed out that there were spiders and insects down there, so Gail had shuddered and said no thanks. 

Castiel turned on the lamp by his bed. "Suite" was a misnomer, really; all he had was a bit of bedroom furniture and a bathroom. No chair, even. So he gestured to the bed, and she sat down. Then he sat beside her, but as far away as he could get while still sitting on the same piece of furniture. 

"I thought maybe we should come here, just in case Fergus comes home early," Castiel told Gail. "He would never come down here." 

She nodded. She could totally see that. Gail had never seen two brothers who were so opposite of each other in personality and temperament as those two. She knew both guys very well, from years of living in the same house together and observing them. So why was she suddenly so nervous to be sitting here with this one? 

"Say what you want to say," Castiel said to her, sighing. 

"Who says I want to say anything?" she responded curiously. 

"Aren't you going to tell me to leave you alone?" he asked her. "That I shouldn't have done that?" He smiled sadly. "And, that you don't think of me like that?" 

"You know, if you want to have this conversation by yourself, I could just leave," she quipped. 

Castiel laughed, despite himself. Did she have any idea what a bright light she was? She was the reason he got up every morning, and when he knelt down to pray every night before he went to sleep, all he asked for was the chance to see her and speak to her again, the following day. But now that he had kissed her once, he suddenly wore his heart on his sleeve. 

He looked like a different person when he laughed, Gail thought. Castiel had always looked so sad. And she'd never really noticed how blue his eyes were before, probably because he'd hardly ever looked directly at her. 

"You should laugh more often," she told him. 

"Then I should talk to you more often," he said charmingly, still smiling. 

Gail was astonished. She'd never seen this side of him before. "Well, since you're finally talking to me now, I'll tell you a few things. I don't know why I would tell you to leave me alone, when you hardly talk to me as it is. And I don't think I can tell you that you shouldn't have kissed me, because I liked it." She smiled mischievously. "But you are right about one thing. I never really thought of you that way. At least, not until now." She slid over closer to him on the bed. "But, I'm curious: what brought this on, all of a sudden?" she asked him. 

"It's not all of a sudden," he said softly. "I've loved you ever since the day you moved into this house." 

Gail's jaw dropped. "But, you never even talked to me!" she blurted out. 

"I was frightened to," he confessed. "You and Fergus were so close, and you were so..." He looked down, feeling shy again. "You were so beautiful, and so special." 

She shook her head. He was nuts. Her, special? Beautiful? "I lived on the streets, because nobody loved me," she told him. "At least, that's what they told me at the government office, when I went there for help." 

He was shocked. "They didn't say that to you, did they?" he asked in a hushed voice. 

"Yep," she confirmed. "Imagine: you're ten years old, walking the streets with no place to sleep and no money, and you go there for help, and they tell you that. So, after that, I just didn't give a damn any more. But that was when I met Fergus. He used to bring me food. He's the one who talked Rowena into taking me in." 

Castiel was amazed. Fergus had done that? He hadn't known. 

"So I guess I'll owe him another great big thanks, the next time I see him," Gail continued. She leaned forward and kissed Castiel lightly on the lips. 

"Me too, then," Castiel said, and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. This time, when he opened her mouth, she gave him her tongue. And, unlike that evening with Fergus, when Castiel moved his hands tentatively under her clothes, she didn't stop him. In fact, she moved even closer to him. 

They continued to kiss, and he was gently caressing her skin now. "I love you, Gail," he told her. "I always have, and I always will. It doesn't matter who we are, or how old we are, where we are, or whose fantasy we're in. You and I will always be together, and you will always be my wife. Just promise me something." 

He was stroking her lazily now, kissing her neck. Somehow, he had managed to lay her down and get all of her clothes off. How did he keep doing that? 

"Anything," she breathed. She would promise him the moon and the stars, if he would just continue to do what he was doing. 

"Don't ever kiss Crowley again," Cas said in her ear. 

Crowley came to, and he was enraged. 

"What in the bloody hell was that?" he yelled at Lucifer, who was smiling. 

"Your Fondest Desires," Lucifer retorted. "A mother, a family, a little tongue action, and the chance to be a hero. But you didn't end up with the girl, because deep down, you don't really want the girl. You just don't want your brother to have her, because you don't want your brother to be happy while you yourself are miserable. You're going to have to decide if you want to wear a white hat or a black one in our little tale, and you'd better do it soon, Your Majesty. The next time I see you, you can either join me for real, or be destroyed." 

"Is that so?" Crowley said, eyebrows raised. He drained the contents of his brandy snifter and rose to his feet, brushing imaginary lint from the lapels of his jacket. Then he walked over to the chair in which Gail sat and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. He took his Angel blade out of his jacket and put it to her throat. Lucifer smiled. Maybe Crowley was finally starting to get the message. 

"Come with me," Crowley barked. Gail looked at him suspiciously. "Where?" she asked him. "Sometimes you talk too much," he said by way of a response, pulling her by the arm past where Lucifer stood, smirking. They passed by Castiel's chair, and he was straining at his bonds now. What the hell was Crowley trying to pull? What had Lucifer's little speech really been all about? 

Suddenly, Crowley wheeled around and put one hand on Castiel's forehead and the other on Gail's, giving them a mighty push back to the bunker. Then he looked at Lucifer. 

"It's not me who'll be destroyed, it's you," Crowley said coldly. "Don't ever touch me again." Then he snapped his fingers and disappeared.


	4. Love Her Madly

BOOK III - FRENCH KISS

Cas and Gail reappeared outside the bunker. Thankfully, Crowley had released them from their handcuffs at the same time as he had pushed them out of the mansion, but both Angels had been surprised by his sudden action and they stumbled, falling into each others' arms. 

"Are you all right?" he asked her. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Cas," she answered. "You?" 

He had his arms around her, partly to steady her, and partly to steady himself. "Better, now that you're here, safe, with me," he told her earnestly. "I had no idea what Crowley was going to do there, for a minute." 

"Did he betray us, or not?" she asked Cas, puzzled. 

"I don't know," he said soberly. "I thought he had, when we first entered the room, but now he's sent us here, to safety. I believe he was seriously considering it, though, and we will have to have a little talk about that when we speak next." He frowned. He had always known that aligning himself with his Brother was a risky proposition, and now Castiel was doubly unsure if he would be able to rely on Crowley in the future, if and when they would need him. Better to just concentrate on obtaining the Tablets; hopefully, their group would be able to defeat Lucifer that way, without Crowley's dubious assistance. 

Then Cas gave her a thin smile. "I hope I didn't scare you too badly when I told Lucifer that I would take his deal," he said, touching her cheek. 

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Gail asked him. "You did have me wondering there, for a minute." 

"I just wanted to test Lucifer's deal making skills," Cas told her. "I'm all too familiar with Crowley's method, but I was skeptical whether Lucifer would be as fair, or as logical. Crowley's deals are insidious, but at least they are honourable. Lucifer appears to be giving you your heart's desire with one hand, but then he takes everything away with both hands, once you have made an agreement. I learned my lesson after he offered to heal you in the bunker. He did, of course, but he also gave you amnesia, and made you into Sarah. And this time, he gave me the do-over that he had promised, including the opportunity to be married to you from the Beginning. We had an idyllic existence." Cas's smile turned warm, and he gave Gail a gentle squeeze as he thought back to that part of the fantasy. He still hadn't let go of her, and he wasn't sure if he ever would again. The scare of their being at Lucifer's and Crowley's mercy was still too fresh. He continued, "Even when Cain killed me, you elected to have our Father take you right then and there, so we could be together in Heaven. It was all perfect, except for one thing. But, it was a very big thing: you weren't you." 

Her forehead wrinkled. "No? Who was I, then?" 

"It's hard to explain," he replied. He kissed her forehead, as if to smooth out the lines of puzzlement. "Suffice it to say that you were not the woman I married." He smiled. "You were very passive, and you deferred to me in all aspects." 

Gail smirked. "Oh, well, you wouldn't want to be married to someone like that, would you?" 

Cas gave her another squeeze. "You know, there was a time when I thought that was exactly what I did want," he told her. "And I think that Lucifer just assumed that it still would be. But that was how I knew that the deal was sour. I love you just the way you are. I always want you to voice your opinion, and if it happens to differ from mine, so be it. We can work that out together." He nuzzled her cheek, talking softly into her ear. "Besides, I think you may have been right. It is a little bit hot when we disagree. We'll have to test that theory out, the next time we're alone. That is, if I ever happen to disagree with you about anything ever again. Right now, I can't picture that occurring. I'm just so glad that you're okay." Cas kissed her on the mouth, and she touched his face. 

"And now, I guess we'd better let Bobby know where we are and that we're all right," Cas said to her. "They might all still be there, looking for us." 

So he sent the message to Bobby on Angel Radio, who told him that they had indeed searched all of the rooms in the house for Cas and Gail, and had come up empty. Even though Sam and Dean knew that they had been trapped by Lucifer in the library, thanks to one of Rowena's leftover hex bags, the men had been unable to locate the library again or gain access to it. They had been going nuts, trying to figure out where the two of them could be, and worrying if they were all right. Bobby advised he would bring Sam and Dean back right away, and then he and the Musketeers would be back in a little while for the debriefing. They had something else to do, first. Ethan was very upset about his men, and Bobby and the other Angels were going to take their bodies back up to Heaven, and then spend a bit of time with Ethan before sitting down with the larger group. But Bobby didn't mention any of this to Castiel; there would be plenty of time for that later, when they all sat down together. 

A moment later, Bobby appeared with Sam and Dean in tow. Gail rushed to embrace both brothers, and they hugged her back, nodding to Cas in greeting. 

"Well, that was interesting," Dean said sarcastically. "Next time Crowley offers to set up his buddy Lucifer, tell him we're busy." 

"Yeah, that was a real balls-up operation, all right," Bobby agreed, frowning. "I've got a couple of things to take care of upstairs and then we'll be back to do a recap. Are you two all right?" he asked Cas and Gail. 

"We're fine, Bobby. What happened to you, though?" Cas asked him. Bobby'd had Kevin heal his cuts, but he had some bruises coming in already, and what looked like the beginnings of a black eye. 

"We'll talk when I come back," Bobby said tersely. Then he winked out. 

"Where are Frank and Jody?" Gail asked the brothers. "Are they coming separately?" 

"They're already here," Sam advised her. "Apparently, Jody had some kind of a dizzy spell when they first got there, and Bobby had to bring them back here." 

Cas and Gail exchanged glances. What was wrong with Jody? "I hope I didn't do that to her," Gail said worriedly. She was thinking about the brief time she had possessed Jody a short while ago. 

"What we did shouldn't have that effect," Cas said, his brow furrowing. "At least, I've never known that kind of possession to affect a human in that manner. We'd better get inside and make sure that she's all right." 

Jody was laying on the couch when they came down the stairs, and Frank was sitting beside her, holding her hand. He had put a wet cloth on her forehead, and he was looking at her face with concern, watching her colour. She had been really pale when she'd first laid down. 

Cas rushed over to them. "How are you, Jody?" he asked. "What seems to be the problem?" 

Jody took the cloth off her forehead and sat up. "No problem, Cas. I just felt a little loopy there for a minute, and Frank and Bobby overreacted." 

"You were pale as hell, and you looked like you were gonna pass out," Frank said, frowning. He looked at Cas. "What kind of voodoo Angel crap did you pull on her, anyway?" 

Cas was distressed. "What Gail and I did should not have affected Jody that way, Frank," he told Gail's brother. "I have done it before, and the host has never suffered any adverse reaction." 

"She's not a 'host', she's my wife," Frank retorted. "You tell me you wouldn't be upset if you saw Gail in that same condition." 

Jody rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a mother hen. I'm just fine, Frank. Let me up." 

Frank rose from the couch, allowing her to get up, but he continued to glare at Cas. Cas felt terrible now. "Yes, I would be upset, Frank. But I swear to you, I never would have suggested such a thing if I had known that it might affect Jody that way. Please believe me, Frank." 

Jody tossed the cloth to her husband and said, "OK, that's enough. Leave Cas alone." The poor guy looked like he was going to cry, Jody thought. "There's no evidence that what happened even had anything to do with that. I felt dizzy for a few seconds, and I'm fine now. The only reason I agreed to come back here at all is that I thought I might be a liability." She looked at Cas and Gail. "I'm sorry we weren't there," she told them. "Is everyone OK?" 

"Yes, we're all fine, Jody," Cas replied. "Just as long as you're okay. I'm truly sorry, Jody." 

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "I'll be ready to answer the bell next time, I promise. I guess we can assume that we'll be going back to get more Tablets, now?" 

"Yes," Cas said. "Aside from being an interesting diversion, this mission was pretty much pointless. Crowley may or may not still be our ally, but I believe he cannot be trusted any more, if indeed he ever could. We will find all of the Tablets, and we will take care of Lucifer ourselves." 

"Sounds good to me," Sam said. "I never felt comfortable trusting him, anyway." 

Dean was nodding. "He's a smarmy little weasel. What did he do, lead you guys into a trap?" 

Cas frowned. "We're still not sure. He seemed to us to be with Lucifer when he first arrived, but he also sent us here to safety." 

"Whatever," Frank said, shrugging. "I think we should just kill him the next time we see him, anyway. Just on general principles." He clapped Cas on the shoulder. "I'm sorry I was so rough on you a minute ago," he told him. "I was just worried about Jody." 

"I understand, Frank," Cas said, taking Gail's hand. He smiled at her. "I love my wife, too." It still gave him a thrill to say that out loud. Things had been so hectic that he and Gail hadn't had much chance to get used to the idea yet. But they were married, and only death would part them now. 

Gail answered Cas's smile with one of her own. She was thinking along the same lines as he was. She loved hearing him call her his wife. Imagine, Lucifer thinking that she would take a deal in which Cas wouldn't be a part of her life. It was laughable, really. That was how she had known that the deal was bogus. Cas had been trying to be self-sacrificing, wanting her to be able to start all over again without the heartache and fear she'd experienced at such a young age. She appreciated the thought, but she'd appreciated it even more when he had immediately reconsidered and had come looking for her. Although how on earth he had been able to break through to do so was beyond her. There was still so much about him and their world that she had yet to learn. She squeezed his hand gently. She was really looking forward to her education. 

"Jodeeee!" Robbie exclaimed. He ran from the hallway through the library and launched himself at her. When Bobby had first brought Frank and Jody back here, Barry had hustled Robbie down the hall when he'd seen Jody's pale complexion and the look on Frank's face. He and Tommy had been keeping Robbie occupied in the kitchen, giving Jody a chance to regroup. They came out of the hallway now, happy to see that everyone was back. The two men were holding hands, also. They had been at the bunker long enough now to have become a little more comfortable in being affectionate with each other around the others. While not nearly as demonstrative as their Angel friends, they had begun to hug, hold hands, and kiss occasionally around the others. That was their normal, at-home behaviour, and since the Winchesters and Cas had urged them to stay here under the bunker's protection, the men had wanted to behave as normally as possible. So far, their casual expressions of affection hadn't seemed to make anyone uncomfortable, so they'd continued. 

Cas was impatient to get to Quinn's house now, to get in touch with Linda again and find out where the next Tablet was. If it was in another international location, as he was fairly certain it would be, they would likely need to prepare, as they'd done for their trip to Egypt. And he wanted to spend one night in his new home with his new bride before they embarked on another mission. Surely that wasn't too much to ask. 

But they had to wait for Bobby to get back from Heaven first. What was taking him so long? 

Bobby was in Ethan's apartment in Heaven, trying to calm the young Angel down. 

"Damn it, Bobby!" Ethan exclaimed. "I only have a few recruits left now, and they're all as green as hell. Those two were the best that I had, and he just butchered them, like it was no big deal! One of the writers of the Gospels, killing Angels! Aren't they supposed to be the good guys? Who the hell can we trust any more, Bobby?" 

"Trust me," Bobby said firmly. "Trust in Cas and Gail, Sam and Dean, and Frank and Jody." 

"Trust us," Chuck said, putting his arm around Ethan's shoulders. 

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "We've got your back, Ethan. We'll get those bastards, you'll see. We'll make them pay." 

"I'm putting you on stress leave for a little while," Bobby told Ethan. "You and I can talk some more, and we'll see where we're at. Maybe one of these guys would be willing to stay here with you tonight." He gave them a grim smile. "If you weren't Angels, I'd prescribe a few shots of bourbon. But sometimes, just talking it out can be beneficial, too." 

"I'll stay here with you, Ethan," Kevin told his friend. Truthfully, he'd been very traumatized by what had happened at the mansion, as well. It would probably do Kevin just as much good to talk to a friend as it would Ethan. He looked at Chuck. Kevin had thought that the other Musketeer was a goner until Sam and Dean had explained that Chuck couldn't be turned into a vampire after just one bite. But it had been really scary to see Jason feeding on Chuck, nonetheless. And they hadn't even caught anyone on the mission. Lucifer and his unholy support staff were all still free, and two Angels had been killed. What a disaster. 

Chuck was thinking the same thing, and he was damn angry about it. He had never seen Ethan lose it like that before, and Kevin looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming Mack truck. Bobby also looked battered and bruised, and Chuck wondered what was up with that. He was God, wasn't he? Shouldn't Bobby have been able to just march in there and start smiting the crap out of everyone? Chuck had had a fishy feeling about Bobby for some time now, but Bobby wasn't talking. Maybe Chuck could wangle some information out of Gail, if he approached it right. 

"Can I come to the bunker with you?" Chuck asked Bobby. "I'd like to see Cas and Gail, just to make sure they're all right." 

"Sure, Chuck," Bobby said. He didn't see a problem with that. He knew that Chuck was especially close to the couple. 

They said their goodbyes to Ethan and Kevin, and winked themselves to the bunker. 

Everyone was sitting around the library table now except for Barry and Robbie. Since what they were discussing was of a sensitive nature, Barry had volunteered to take Robbie to his room. Robbie had had his own room here at the bunker for a while now, ever since Frank and Jody had gone to Egypt. Sam and Dean had bought a TV and a video game system and hooked them up in there. Tommy had installed some shelves on the wall for Robbie to keep his action figures on, but Robbie didn't play with them much anymore. He was growing up fast, and lately he'd been requesting more horror movies and first-person shooter games. Jody had nixed both requests, and the men had deferred to her judgement, but it was probably only a matter of time. Barry felt very sad at the thought that Robbie might be forced to grow up so quickly that his life would turn out to be like Sam and Dean's, or Frank and Gail's. The men had sat up some nights talking about it, and the Winchesters had told Barry and Tommy what their young lives had been like. Moving from town to town. Unable to form lasting friendships, or to sustain a relationship with a girl. Chasing monsters and constantly putting their lives on the line. Then Frank had chimed in, telling them about his parents' murder and taking Gail on the road with him, trying to stay one step ahead of Crowley and his Demons. Being a young teenager, raising an even younger girl, with absolutely no idea how to do it. Going out hunting at night, leaving a child alone in a cheap motel room, with only the TV and the occasional book for company. Telling her not to answer the phone or open the door to anyone, no matter who they said they were. Worrying every time he came back to the motel that he would find her dead, or missing. 

There was clearly a need for Hunters, Barry and Tommy knew, and these men were basically heroes. Their Angel friends were too, of course. But it was no kind of a life for a child. Sam and Dean and Frank were good men, but they were all flawed, to say the least. Sam had almost escaped the life once, but tragic circumstances had brought him back in. He used intellect and gentle humour to cover the fact that a large part of him still mourned for the normal life he knew that he would never have. Sam was now so dependent on Dean emotionally that if anything were ever to happen to his brother, Sam would likely not be able to survive, or would not want to. Dean used alcohol and smart remarks to cover his pain, and there was an awful lot of it. He took responsibility for pretty much everything that went wrong in their lives, and lately, that had been a lot of things. And up until fairly recently, Frank had used bad jokes and avoidance to cope with his feelings of bitterness and resentment at being dealt his particular hand as a teenager. But love had helped to save Frank, and it had come just in time. 

Barry wondered about Gail, and about Cas, too. He and Tommy had really come into the theatre in the middle of the movie as far as everyone in their immediate circle was concerned, and when it came to Cas, the plot was so complicated that they'd probably never figure everything out. But they were here, and they had been welcomed with open arms. Barry had looked around the table at all of them before taking Robbie out of the room. Funny, along with the Angels, this was the only family that had ever accepted him the way he was. And it had all started when Cas and Gail had just happened to walk into the poker room that day. Even though his and Tommy's lives had been turned upside down, he thanked God that they had. Now, if they could just take care of Lucifer, everything would be fine. 

Lucifer poured himself another drink and sat there, thinking. Wondering where he had gone wrong. He'd had it good when he'd first arrived here on Earth. Lots of money, female companionship, a devoted following. But the Angels had screwed him out of all of that, and again, he had been denied the opportunity to make them pay for it. Maybe he'd pushed Crowley a little too far, but Lucifer couldn't understand why the King of Hell would aid and abet the Angels in their fight against him. He'd thought he had Crowley on the leash, but the King was proving to be a very tough nut to crack. 

Actually, they all were. Lucifer had thought for sure that Castiel would dive head-first into his particular offer. And indeed he had, for a little while there. But apparently, there were some lessons that Brother Castiel was capable of learning. Lucifer supposed, in hindsight, he shouldn't have messed with Gail again when he'd concocted the deal, but he just couldn't seem to resist. She was pure trash, as far as Lucifer was concerned. She was common, she was mouthy, and she seemed to think that she belonged with the Originals. Well, just because their Father had bestowed that title and certain gifts on her, that didn't make her a true Original, in Lucifer's opinion. He'd thought he was doing Castiel an enormous favour by making her into Biblical Sarah. She'd retained her few good qualities, and she would have been a very loving and willing partner for his Brother, but with none of the backtalk Lucifer was sure that poor Castiel had to hear on a regular basis. But in the end, Cas had rejected the deal with the new and improved Gail. Oh, well. It was Castiel's funeral. If Crowley was telling the truth, and Castiel had really vowed to obey her, maybe Lucifer should just leave the poor guy alone. He must be suffering plenty already, if he had to be subservient to the likes of her. 

But Lucifer had thought for sure that Gail would take her deal. He had pretty much opened up the playground for her. She could do anything, be anything she wanted. But even though she'd seemed to be taking advantage of her do-over, once she'd met Sam Winchester, it was all over. Lucifer could swear that Gail had contrived that meeting in her fantasy just so she could come into Castiel's circle, and her Angel husband had broken through as Lucifer had watched. How the hell had he done that? He shouldn't have been able to. Lucifer and Crowley were both experts at manipulation and persuasion, but apparently, Castiel was no slouch when it came to mental matters, either. Or maybe it was because he and Gail were married now. Perhaps it was the sacred bond that gave them that extra layer of connection that Castiel would have needed to be able to show up and persuade her to renege on the deal. But her heart hadn't been in it, anyway; that much had been obvious. Crowley had been right about that, much as Lucifer hated to admit it. Lucifer never should have offered them deals that didn't include the other; or, as in Castiel's case, the true versions of each other. Whether Lucifer approved or not, the two of them were so tied to each other now that being apart would surely be unacceptable to them. 

But what about Crowley? Perhaps he had been right, but he'd made Lucifer angry when he'd suggested that the Devil didn't know what he was doing. When Lucifer had shown Crowley his own Fondest Desires, the Devil had been one thousand percent accurate, and the King knew it. That was probably why he had gotten snitty and freed the Angels. But was it Lucifer's fault that the King of Hell secretly wanted to be a good guy? Crowley also thought he wanted the girl, but Lucifer had deliberately arranged for Castiel to take Gail off Crowley's hands. Crowley had been fantasizing about her ever since he'd had her in his den that first time, but he was living in a dream world. His Brother Lucifer was just trying to help him see that. Crowley had kidnapped Gail, dosed her, and tried to mould her into what his ideal of what a female companion should be. But even though she had briefly flirted with the dark side after being drugged by Crowley's blood, Castiel's goodness had ultimately drawn Gail like a moth to a flame, and as soon as the two of them had made their connection and fallen in love, Crowley was done like dinner. So he'd tried revenge, and then he'd tried apathy, and then he had tried to get rid of them when he'd conspired with Xavier to provide evidence for the tribunal. But Crowley also had a sentimental streak a mile wide, one that he thought he kept well hidden, and God had taken advantage of that fact when He had persuaded Crowley to revive Castiel, following the latter's execution. After that moment, the King had begun to behave more like an ally than an enemy to the Angels, and even now, Crowley continued to lend support to the couple. Lucifer just didn't get it. What was it going to take for Crowley to wake up and smell the holy water? There was no way that he would ever be part of their happy little family, and the sooner he wised up to that fact, the happier they would all be, in Lucifer's opinion. You were either bad, or you weren't. You were either with Lucifer, or against him. 

In the meantime, the Angels were free again, and Lucifer was sure they were going to resume their quest for the Tablets immediately. He had to stop them. But how? 

Rowena was at the table, making up some more hex bags. She had left the last ones she'd had back at Lucifer's house, and it never hurt to have a good supply on hand. 

She had enchanted the library mirror before she'd left the mansion, and she'd seen the exchanges between the Originals. When her son had first gotten there and had been ushered in for his audience with Lucifer, it had seemed to Rowena that Fergus had finally come to his senses. But then, when the Angels had gotten there, Lucifer had wasted time with his silly talk of deals, and her son had done nothing. Why didn't the two bad guys just team up and blast Castiel and Gail into oblivion? But Rowena knew why that wasn't happening. It was because her son had this ridiculous notion that he could have his cake and eat it, too. He wanted to be feared and respected as the King of Hell, yet he was consorting with the Angels, siding with them against Lucifer. You couldn't have it both ways, she thought scornfully. Fergus should know that, after all this time. 

As for her, Rowena was a little bit at loose ends right now. She still wanted to get into the Angels' inner circle, if for no other reason than to know what they were up to at any given time. Now that Lucifer had let them get away, she was sure that they would be redoubling their efforts to locate the rest of the Tablets. If Rowena could somehow get the jump on that, maybe find out the location of the next Tablet they were after, she could possibly use that information as leverage with Lucifer. If she decided to go that way, that was. Lucifer had been ready to just give her up to her son in exchange for Crowley's betrayal of the Angels, so Rowena really wasn't sure if she even wanted to deal with him anymore. But there might be other benefits for Rowena. Since her son seemed bound and determined to get fitted for a halo, she could monitor his movements as well, and find out what his plans were, if she had an inside track. 

So she tied up the last of the hex bags and started to mix up a special potion. She probably wouldn't need it, but it never hurt to have a backup. It had been a while since Rowena had seduced a man as herself, especially one who was on the side of good. She began to hum a little tune. Rowena was tired of being on the outside, looking in. It was time she got some real information, and time she got some loving of her own. 

Bobby had just finished telling the group that Ethan would be out of commission for a while, and Kevin would be staying in Heaven with him. 

"And, just between us and the lamppost, I'm leaving Becky out of any potentially dangerous missions," Bobby continued, adding dryly, "which would be all of them." He'd thought about it, and Bobby didn't want to be responsible for the death of another young Angel, if he could help it. Ethan wasn't the only one who felt bad about what had happened to the recruits. Bobby continued, "So I'm giving you Chuck for this next mission, but that's just about all we've got. No offense, Chuck." 

Chuck shrugged. "I know you didn't mean anything by that, Bobby. And for the record, I know exactly what you mean." 

"What happened to Ethan's staff?" Cas asked in a sharp tone. "He told me he had some trainees." 

Bobby frowned. "A bunch of them quit. I guess the prospect of getting killed by Lucifer or one of his minions isn't as good of a recruiting tool as we thought." 

Frank's lips twitched, and he averted his head so Bobby wouldn't see. He didn't want to piss off God, but that had been a pretty good one, as caustic comments went. Worthy of Frank himself. 

Jody got up abruptly, muttering, "Sorry guys, call of nature," and she left the room. Frank looked down the hall after her for a moment. Had the fact that he was fighting not to smile at the comment that Bobby had made angered Jody? But she knew him very well, and she knew that was his kind of humour. Frank frequently turned to dark humour in the darkest of situations as a way to cope, a trait that he had unconsciously taught to his sister. But he certainly wasn't making light of the deaths of the Angel recruits, either. The whole situation was actually a reminder that any one of their Angel friends could be killed at any time. Even Cas and Gail could. Frank stopped smiling immediately. 

Cas was mad, and he was frustrated, too. In a way, he thought that Ethan had erred in judgement by bringing those young and obviously green recruits into such a dangerous situation. But on the other hand, how else were they supposed to get any field experience? There had to be a better, more comprehensive way of training them. Not that it mattered now, he supposed, since Bobby had advised that there weren't really any recruits left. But they had to figure something out with respect to this subject going forward; if not now, then for the future. Castiel had every intention of putting Lucifer away himself, but even once he accomplished that, he had no illusions that Lucifer would be the last enemy that they would ever face. Back in the old days, Angels had been conscripted as soldiers. There had been no such thing as a choice, or Free Will. That was how Castiel himself had become such a good fighter. But after God had left Heaven for the first time, the Angels had fallen into disorganization and anarchy, and then, they had just Fallen. By the time their Father had returned to take back the helm, nearly all of Heaven's soldiers were dead, and the Angels had evolved into a bunch of bureaucratic paper-pushers. Or they had devolved, some might argue. Castiel had half-expected God to reinstate the Army, but He had not. And then, Gail had come into Castiel's life, and suddenly he had become less interested in fighting, and more interested in peaceful missions. The reason behind that was apparent. When he'd fallen in love, danger had seemed...well, more dangerous to him. Now that he had something to live for, Cas no longer wanted to risk his life. And he wanted Gail as far away from peril as possible. So he'd tried to steer them away from such situations. But it was impossible, of course. He blamed himself for that. Castiel was a lightning rod for danger, it seemed, and he had made a lot of enemies in the past. He'd actually had no business marrying Gail at all; if he'd wanted to keep her safe, he should have just stayed away from her altogether. But he'd resigned himself to the fact that he could not live one moment without her. Even in the visions they'd experienced following Lucifer's offers, he'd had to have her by his side since the beginning of time, and he'd been unable to let her live without him when she'd had the chance to do so. 

Gail saw Cas looking at her and she gave him a brief smile, but she was preoccupied now. She hadn't liked the look on Jody's face when she'd gotten up from the table so abruptly. Maybe Gail should go check on her. Frank didn't seem to be too concerned right now, but if Jody had felt dizzy again and had gone to the washroom, Gail was probably the only other candidate she would allow in to help her. 

She got up quietly and went down the corridor. 

Jody wasn't in the bathroom, she was sitting on the edge of the bed in her and Frank's room, and she had her head in-between her knees. Gail tapped lightly on the open door, but then she decided that was ridiculous, because the door was wide open. She moved quickly to sit on the bed beside her sister-in-law. 

"What's the matter, Jody?" Gail asked her, concerned. She put her hand gently on Jody's back. 

Jody sighed. "I had to leave the table because I felt like I was gonna puke. Turns out I didn't, but then I started feeling dizzy again, so I came in here for a minute." 

Gail's mind began to race. Admittedly, she didn't know a lot about the subject, but she knew what those symptoms sounded like, at least to her. She began to smile. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Jody? Or, is there anything you should be telling Frank, at least?" 

Jody frowned, and she lifted her head to look at Gail. "It's not what you're thinking," she told her. 

"Oh." Gail was a little embarrassed now. "Sorry. But, in that case, do you think you should see a doctor, maybe?" 

"I've already seen one," Jody said. Then she gave Gail a faint smile. "Look, I know I don't say anything, but I really do appreciate having another woman around sometimes. All that testosterone can get a bit much, you know what I mean?" 

Now Gail smiled. "Oh, believe me, I know what you mean. I was really glad when you came along. And when you and Frank got together, I was thrilled, because I knew that meant that you would be around a lot more." 

"I know you and I don't talk that much, just the two of us, but I would like to be closer to you," Jody told Gail. "You mean so much to Frank." 

Gail was pleased. What a sweet thing to say. "Thanks, Jody," she said. "I feel the same way. I'd like to be closer to you, too. I know you guys aren't like me and Cas - " 

" - Nobody is, Gail," Jody quipped, and the women laughed. 

" - But I know that Frank loves you more than anyone, or anything," Gail finished. 

Jody smiled again. "Yeah, and I love him just as much. Not that we'll ever tell him that, of course." 

Gail shook her head slowly. Frank and Jody certainly were different than her and Cas. She wanted to tell Cas every minute of every day that she loved him. But she knew that Jody was only joking, of course. She could see it in Jody's face. And Gail had seen Frank's face when he'd been hovering over his wife on that couch. They may not be demonstrative, but the love was no less genuine. 

"Well, now that you and I are so close, will you tell me what the doctor said?" Gail asked her. 

Jody sighed again. "She said it might be a reaction to the pills I've been taking." She smiled wryly. "It probably hasn't escaped you that I'm not in my twenties any more, or even in my thirties, if I'm gonna be honest. When Frank and I went on our honeymoon and I saw how he was with Robbie, I decided I might want to see if I could give Robbie a little brother or sister. So I went to the doctor for a little pick-me-up. Fertility pills. But I guess I've been having a bad reaction to them, or something. Anyway, I'm going to quit taking them now, at least until we get rid of Lucifer. I couldn't be there for you today, and I'm sorry about that, Gail. You could have used the extra men. So to speak." Then she smiled. "But after we take care of the Devil, I'm going to do my best to make sure you get a little niece or nephew, before it's too late for me." Then her smile turned sad. She'd actually had a family years ago, but they had died so brutally and so tragically that she still couldn't talk about it to most people. She had told Frank about it one night over beers and shots after they had become romantically involved, but she still didn't feel comfortable mentioning it to others. Maybe it was time she allowed herself to open up a bit more, though. She would never be able to replace her original family, of course, but the one she had here and now was pretty damn good, too. And she wanted to try to loosen up and show her appreciation to them, and for them. 

"Do me a favour, though, and don't tell anybody about what I just told you," Jody said. "Frank doesn't even know about the pills. Though we talked about having a kid, of course. Or another kid, I guess I should say," she amended. 

Gail said nothing, but she shook her head, hoping the lack of response wouldn't constitute a lie. She wasn't going to run around gossiping, but she did intend to tell Cas. They didn't keep secrets from each other. Not anymore. 

Jody rose. "Come on, let's get back in there. Thanks for your concern, Gail, but I'll be fine." 

When they walked back into the library area, both women felt everyone's eyes on them. Frank and Cas were looking concerned, but Gail gave them a dismissing wave of her hand. 

"I'm glad you're back. I was just about to wrap things up," Bobby said to them. "Unless anyone has anything to add?" Everyone shook their heads. Then Bobby turned to Cas. "So, I assume you and Gail are going to see that medium again? What was her name? Quinn?" 

"Yes, we'll have to see if Linda's got any more information for us," Castiel responded. 

"OK, call me when you're done, then, just to let me know where you're going," Bobby said, and he rose from the table. The others all glanced around the table at each other. Wasn't Bobby coming with them? 

Gail rose quickly. "Can Cas and I talk to you for a minute?" she asked Bobby. She gestured to Cas, and he got up, too. The three of them moved to the other end of the room, out of earshot. 

"What is it, Gail?" Bobby asked her. 

"Don't ask me, ask Cas," she said. "He's got something to say to you. Don't you, sweetie?" she said, nudging him. 

Cas was puzzled for a moment, and he frowned momentarily. But then he got it. He looked at Bobby and said, "I must apologize for what I said to you in your office. I didn't mean it." 

Bobby looked at Cas, then at Gail, then back at Cas. Was Cas apologizing because he was truly sorry for what he'd said, or because Gail was making him do it? Did it really matter? Bobby'd known that Castiel wasn't actually accusing him of anything; he'd just been mad. 

He stuck his hand out for Cas to shake. "It's OK, Cas, I know you didn't. I guess I said a few things, too. Let's just forget about it," Bobby said. 

While not exactly an apology on Bobby's part, Cas figured he would take it. He shook Bobby's hand. 

Gail figured she'd also take it, though she had also noticed that Bobby hadn't technically apologized. But that was the way he was, and that was the way he and Cas were together. 

"I'll talk to you later," Bobby said to the couple, and winked out. 

Quinn rushed to answer the door when Cas and Gail knocked, and she smiled at the couple when she let them in. 

"It's nice to see you both again," she told them. "So, you're making progress then, I take it?" 

"Yes," Cas said shortly. He knew that she was just trying to be friendly, but he had shifted gears now. It was time for Castiel to get down to business. 

Quinn's smile faltered a bit, but she led them into the seance room, and made the customary preparations. Before she dimmed the lights, the medium looked at Gail. "I know you're eager to pierce the veil, but I have to tell you something, first. Oliver's spirit is still here. He pops up every now and then when I'm doing a seance, and a couple of times some things have happened around the house that make me think he's trying to get some kind of a message across. But he still insists he has no idea why he's here. I just thought I should warn you." 

Gail was puzzled. "Warn us? Why?" 

"No, warn YOU," Quinn answered. "Maybe I should explain." She sat down at the table and looked at both of them. "Ever since I found out that Oliver was still here, I've been wanting to help him cross over. But in order to do that, I have to find out what's tying him here. So I got some magnetic letters and put them on my fridge. And the other day, I went into the kitchen and saw that the name "GAIL" was spelled out there, and the word "BOOK". Since you're the only Gail I know, and he appeared to you when you were here last, I thought you should know." 

Gail looked at Cas. Why would Oliver be singling her out like that? And, what about a book? 

Cas frowned. A book didn't sound especially threatening, but he still didn't like the fact that a spirit was mentioning Gail by name. Plus, they'd had such a checkered past with Oliver, most of it extremely negative. Still, Cas was here with her to protect her if necessary, and they had something much bigger to worry about right now than a ghost. 

Quinn began the seance. She'd really thought that Oliver was going to show up now that Gail was actually here, but he didn't. Linda came immediately, though. Perhaps she had overridden him. 

"I haven't seen you in a while," Linda said impatiently. "Where have you been?" 

"Getting Tablets," Gail answered pertly. "We've got two of them now." 

"I know," Linda replied. "And I know you had a run-in with Lucifer, and with Crowley, too. I was surprised you all made it out alive. Why didn't you kill them while you were there?" 

Cas frowned. Linda had never had any problems speaking her mind, that was for sure. "We had no powers there. The place was covered in sigils," he told her. 

"Oh." Linda didn't quite know what to say to that. But then she said, "Well, why didn't THEY kill YOU, then?" 

Cas sighed. "I don't know, Linda." But actually, he thought he did. It was because Lucifer really wanted Castiel to be on his team. But he wasn't comfortable saying that in front of Quinn, and he didn't want Linda to take it the wrong way. The bottom line was that the Devil had tried to tempt both him and Gail, but he had ultimately been unsuccessful, and that was all that mattered. "Do you have any information for us, Linda?" 

"Yes, I do," Linda replied. "And I've got to say, it's good to see the two of you again. I'm getting so sick of Luke. The quicker we can get this done, the happier I'll be." 

"Thanks for doing this, Linda," Gail said. "We really appreciate it." 

Linda smiled. "Don't thank me, just kick Lucifer's ass for me. And, speaking of the Devil, the third Tablet is in the catacombs in Paris, France. Look for something called 'The Empire Of The Dead'." 

Oh, goodie, Gail thought. That didn't sound creepy at all. 

Cas was nodding. That didn't surprise him one bit. "Which Tablet is this one?" he asked Linda. 

"Purgatory," she answered tersely. Then her expression brightened. "But at least you'll get to go to Paris for your honeymoon. How was the wedding?" 

Now Cas did smile. "It was wonderful," he said, giving Gail's hand a gentle squeeze. 

"We wish you could have been there," Gail added. "And, before you ask, Kevin's doing fine." 

"Is he going to go to Paris with you?" Linda asked them. 

"No, he's hanging back in Heaven for a while," Gail replied. "How did you know about the wedding? And about Crowley and Lucifer?" 

"Luke has a mirror in his house that he can use to view Earth," Linda answered. "He checks in from time to time." 

Cas was frowning again. "He has a mirror in his house?" he asked Linda. Then he looked at Gail. "Does that sound familiar?" he asked her. 

Gail nodded. "Rowena." 

"Rowena?" Linda echoed. 

"Crowley's mother," Castiel said. "She was in the Netherworld a while ago. I'm willing to bet that she made Luke's acquaintance while she was there." 

Linda rolled her eyes. Crowley's mother? Why did that not surprise her? Who knew he even had one? She'd thought he just came oozing out of the mud one day. "You said she WAS here. Where is she now?" Linda asked the couple. 

Cas glanced at Gail, who was frowning now, too. They didn't want to delve into that subject in too great detail if they could help it. They were the ones who had freed Rowena from the Netherworld in order to complete the cure, so ultimately, they were responsible for her being here on the Earth. Just because she had been largely absent from these proceedings didn't mean that she would stay that way. Knowing Rowena as they did, the Angels were sure that she was just biding her time. 

"We're not really sure," Cas replied evasively, but he was being truthful, too. "In any event, it sounds as though she enchanted a mirror for him while she was there." He was thinking furiously now. Rowena had known Luke, when she had been in the Netherworld. Luke was Lucifer's agent there. What was the significance of that? What was he missing? 

Gail looked at him and gave him a half-shrug. She knew he was trying to work that out in his mind, but they'd better not dwell on that subject for too long right now, or Linda might start pulling on some threads. So she thanked Linda again and advised that they'd better get to it, and then Linda was gone. 

Quinn showed them to the door. She couldn't help but smile. "So, a honeymoon in Paris. But you have to go into the catacombs and look for the Empire of the Dead. Talk about the yin and yang of life," she quipped. 

Gail laughed. She was really starting to like Quinn. "No kidding," she said. "Story of our lives." 

"Thank you, Quinn," Cas said to the medium. "We'll be in touch." 

They left the house and stood outside for a moment. Cas took Gail's hand. "I hear Paris is lovely in the fall," he said lightly. 

"What woman doesn't dream of having a honeymoon in the Empire Of The Dead?" Gail quipped. 

Cas started to smile. Was it any wonder why he loved her so much? He winked them to their house. 

"I'm going to call over to the bunker and ask Tommy if he can do a bit of research into the catacombs for us," Cas said. "His information was very helpful for when we went to Egypt. I'll let them know we'll be over in the morning to go over the plan." 

"OK, Cas," Gail said. "I'll check on our clothes, then. I'm sure some of them will need to be cleaned and pressed. Time to use my prodigious powers." She smiled wryly. She still wasn't sure how she felt about having that particular power, but she had to admit that it did come in handy at times. It certainly beat having to deal with laundry detergent and fabric softener. 

She went to the bedroom and cleaned all of their clothes. Cas walked into the room just as she was finishing, and he smiled. "Thank you for doing that," he said to her. "You know that if I had that ability, I would do it as well, don't you?" 

"I know, Cas," she replied. "But it's really no big deal. I guess it's a great blessing to have. At least I won't have to run around here with a mop and a bucket. Especially since it seems like we won't be here all that often, at least not for the foreseeable future." 

Cas put his arms around her waist. "That was why I wanted us to have one night here, before we have to leave again," he told her. He glanced at the bed, then looked down at her face. "We haven't even tried out our furniture yet," he added. 

"Comfortable furniture is very important," she said innocently, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Which piece would you like to try out first?" 

Cas took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She always excited him so much. "How about starting right here?" he said softly, kissing her on the mouth. 

Gail put her arms around his neck and kissed him back, opening her mouth to him. His tongue came looking for hers immediately, and his arms tightened around her. 

He broke the kiss long enough to say, "This will be our first night in our new home as a married couple." 

Gail smiled. It was funny, really. From what she had heard, many men were reluctant to make the commitment of marriage, and if they did, the prevailing feeling seemed to be that being married somehow lessened the passion that couples felt for each other. But Cas had always been contrary, so she guessed it shouldn't surprise her that he appeared to be even more excited in the bedroom now that they were married. 

Not that she was complaining, of course. She loved it when he was excited. "Yes, it will be," she agreed. "I still can't believe it. You're my husband, Cas. For real." 

That did it for him. He scooped her up in his arms and brought her to the bed. He laid her down and kissed her again, and his hands went under her clothes, caressing her bare skin. She was so soft. 

"I love you, Cas," Gail said. "I love being your wife." Now his hands were shaking. She was killing him. 

Gail was smiling. The more excited he became, the happier she felt. She touched him through his pants, moving her fingers up and down. He tried to pull away, as he usually did, but she said, "No, Cas, please." So he stayed there and let her tease him for a moment, and then he opened his pants so she could take him in her hand. He started to move against her hand, and she felt his fingers gently stroking her between her legs. Her breath caught. When had he undone her pants? How did he keep doing that? 

Cas's mouth came down on hers, and she started to whimper when his hand sped up. "I need to make love to you, right now," he told her. She almost laughed. Wasn't that what he was doing? But she knew what he meant. 

"Please do," she urged him. He pulled her top off over her head, then took the rest of their clothes off and positioned himself on top of her. She guided him into her and he began to move right away. He was holding her tightly with one arm and caressing her body with the other, and it felt amazing. Cas was seldom this aggressive, but Gail was really liking it. She would have to refer to them being married every time in the bedroom, if it got this sort of reaction. 

She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed his earlobe. "I love you so much, Cas," she told him. He moaned, pushing forward into her. Then he stopped, taking a deep, shaky breath. He didn't want it to be over so quickly. Even though he was capable of making love to her all night if she wanted, this was their first time in their own bed as a married couple, and he wanted it to be special. 

"Why did you stop?" she murmured into his ear. 

He lifted his head to look her in the eyes. "Because you're getting me too excited," he said to her. 

"I didn't think that was a bad thing," she said teasingly. "In fact, I like it. In fact..." She started to caress his chest, his arms, and his back. "I want you to resume, please." She smiled and contracted the muscles in her intimate area. "And you have to do it." 

Cas had gasped when she'd done that, but he was trying to exercise some control, so he said, "And why do I have to do it?" 

"Didn't you make vows to me?" she continued to tease. "Sacred ones?" 

He took another deep breath, but he found himself starting to move again. He couldn't help it. She got him so excited. And now she was doing it on purpose. 

Then she smiled at him and said, "If I had known it would be this hot, I would have married you years ago." 

Cas moaned again, and he began to move faster. "I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone," he breathed. "You feel so good underneath me, on top of me, and beside me." Then he lost the ability to speak. She whispered endearments into his ear, exhorting him deeper into her, and then Cas was gone, lost in the good feeling. He cried out her name, telling her he loved her, and the warm rush came. It seemed to go on and on for hours. Then, when he could feel his own body again, Cas nuzzled her face and kissed her cheek. 

"When we make love this way, I feel as if we're the same person," he murmured. "Two halves of one whole. Does that make any sense?" 

"It makes perfect sense, Cas," Gail replied softly. "That's how I feel, too." 

He kissed her on the lips. "But I also love making you happy," he said to her. 

"I'm very happy, Cas," Gail told him, touching his cheek. 

"Maybe so, but I believe I can do better than that," Cas said, smiling slowly. He moved his body down and used his tongue on her. She watched him making love to her for a couple of minutes, and then she started to cry out his name. She held his head there and stroked his hair as he smiled. 

Then they cuddled, and Gail suggested that he could watch some TV if he wanted. But this was their first night together in their new home as a married couple, so Cas didn't want to do that. There would be plenty of other times to watch TV. He might look at some in Paris. Cas actually knew some French, although he wasn't quite sure how he knew it, and Gail had once mentioned that she did, too. Curious. Still, it couldn't hurt for them to pick up a bit more of the language while they were there. 

"I've heard a little bit about the catacombs," Gail said. "I wonder if they're as spooky as they sound." 

"I don't know how a place called the Empire Of The Dead could possibly be spooky," Cas quipped, and she laughed. 

"You know, you're a lot funnier than people give you credit for," she told him. 

"Now that we're married, you're obligated to laugh at my jokes," he deadpanned. 

"I don't remember vowing to do that," Gail said, pretending to frown. "I'm going to have to see a transcript." 

Cas smiled, tightening his arms around her. "The only thing I need is for you to love me, that's all," he said softly. "As long as you do that, everything will be all right." 

"Well, I guess everything will be all right for eternity, then, because that's how long I'm going to love you," she said, kissing his chest. Then she looked at his face. "Out there in the world, everything might be in turmoil, but in here, everything will always be all right," she said to him. She kissed his chin, and he continued to smile. She was right. They had their own little world when they were alone together, and thanks to the golden candlesticks they'd received from the Pope, both their house and the bunker were the most heavily protected places on Earth. Tomorrow they would have to go back out there to face whatever they would face, but tonight they were together, and they were safe. 

"I love you," Cas told her. "And whatever we face out there, I will always protect you and take care of you. I will never let anything happen to you." 

"I know that, Cas," she said, and she started to kiss his chest again. 

"It drives me crazy when you do that," he said, closing his eyes. 

"Really?" Gail said mischievously. "Do you want me to stop, then?" 

"Never," he said firmly. "Don't ever, ever stop." 

Gail smiled. He was so cute. She loved making him look as happy as he was looking right now. She continued to kiss his chest, and after a moment, he pulled her up to kiss him on the mouth. Then he gently rolled her over onto her back, and it was him who was kissing her chest now. He moved down to her stomach and laid his head there, looking up at her face. She put her hands on his head, smoothing his hair back from his face. 

"Where do you need me, Gail?" he asked her in a low voice. "And, how?" 

Her stomach fluttered. Cas had no idea how sexy he could be when he said things like that. Or, maybe he did. 

"Everywhere," she told him. "In every way." 

Now she was the one who was being sexy, Cas thought. He could definitely do that. He kissed her stomach, then gave her belly button a lick. She giggled, as she always did when he did that. 

"I don't know where to start," he said teasingly. 

Gail sat up, pulling his head towards hers. "Here," she said, kissing him on the mouth. She licked his lips with her tongue. "Always here." 

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. His tongue danced with hers, and he sighed contentedly. He loved to kiss her this way. He could do this for days. 

But he was getting excited again, and he felt Gail touch him lightly, with her fingertips. Her touch was feather-soft, like a delightful itch he couldn't - quite - scratch. He stayed still for a moment, and then he couldn't stand it any longer. "Please, Gail," Cas breathed, and she smiled through the kiss. She moved forward and opened her legs, guiding him into her. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to kiss him with her tongue. Cas was very excited now. He started to push forward, holding her tightly. What had gotten into Gail tonight? Whatever it was, he liked it. She was being very loving, and very romantic. It excited him so much to be kissing her like this at the same time as he was making love to her. He whimpered, and then he shuddered, and then he was still. 

They made love all night, and as the sun began to peek through the curtains, Cas started to cry silently. 

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Gail asked him softly. She was laying in his arms, and she saw the tears streaming down his face. 

"Nothing," he answered, pulling his arms tighter around her. And it was true; nothing was the matter right now, nothing at all. Cas was crying because he was so happy, and so much in love. The emotions were so strong that they had overwhelmed him. 

Gail smiled. She understood. That was Cas, and that was the reason that she loved him so much. He was sensitive, tender, funny, loving, and sexy. But he was also quirky, with a fiercely short temper and a boatload of insecurities. Gail had had no illusions that Cas was perfect when she'd agreed to marry him, but he was as close to perfect for her as she could possibly hope for. How could you not give your whole heart and soul to a guy who cried when the sun came up, just because he was so happy? And if he was a work in progress, well, so was she. But if she had learned anything in the last few years, Gail had learned that she could not do without him. 

"I love you, Cas," Gail told him. He smiled, but the huge lump that he had in his throat prevented him from speaking. So he kissed her on the forehead instead. And when she got up to use the shower, he continued to weep, praying to his Father to keep Gail safe, and asking that they never be parted again. 

But, as usual, he received no answer.


	5. Invisible Touch

The next morning, they were all gathered at the bunker, waiting for Chuck to bring Tommy back from the newspaper office. Tommy had worked until late the previous evening, researching the catacombs and the Empire Of The Dead, and he had once again obtained bogus credentials for Sam, Dean, Cas and Gail. He'd called in a ton of favours on both this and the Egyptian operation, but what else were favours for? This was the single most important thing that Tommy would ever do in his life, and he wanted to give his friends every advantage he could. 

Chuck winked them both back to the bunker, and Tommy handed the packets with the ID cards to the Winchesters and the Angels. 

Gail smiled as she looked at hers. "I presume I can leave my face uncovered this time?" she said to him. 

"Yes, but you might have to take up smoking," Tommy quipped. Then he said, "Actually, that's a stereotype; I was just going for the joke. But they are a lot more relaxed about certain things there than we are here." 

"Oh, yeah? Like, what things?" Dean asked. 

"I'll get to that in a second," Tommy assured him. "First, I put together a bit of a slide show, with pictures and facts about the catacombs." 

"That's fantastic, Tommy," Cas said. "We would really appreciate knowing what to expect once he gets there. The information you gave us about Egypt was invaluable." 

Tommy was pleased by the compliment. "Research was always one of my strong points," he said, puffing out his chest a little. Barry's lips twitched furiously. It was a good thing that Cas was Cas and Barry and Tommy were in a committed relationship; otherwise, Barry would feel a little jealous at the way Tommy reacted when Cas complimented him. Nevertheless, Barry cleared his throat, and Tommy had the good grace to blush a little. 

"Anyway," Tommy continued, "I have some photos here to show you." 

Chuck dimmed the lights, and Tommy opened the laptop. While he was searching for the file, he said, "The Catacombs in Paris are underground ossuaries." 

"Ass-you-aries?" Frank quipped. "What kind of operation are you running here, Cas?" 

"Ossuaries," Sam said, rolling his eyes at Gail's brother. He was pretty sure that Frank was just trying to keep morale up by joking around, but he felt the need to explain the word for the benefit of others in the room. Sam would be willing to bet a million bucks that Dean didn't know what it meant. "Rooms in which the bones of dead people are placed." 

"Great," Dean groused. "Nothing morbid about that at all." 

"Oh, it gets better," Tommy said, almost cheerfully. He'd found the icon now, and the first slide appeared on the TV screen. Gail's eyes widened. It was a pile of bones, fashioned into some kind of a sculpture, with human skulls included in the mix. 

"The Catacombs hold the remains of about six million people," Tommy told them as he moved though the slides. 

Good Lord, Frank thought. Six million dead peoples' bones, and the place was a tourist attraction? People were weird. 

"Six million? Sounds like the Nazis, almost," Dean remarked. 

Tommy's eyebrows raised. "Hold that thought," he said, impressed by Dean's foresight. "Let me give you a bit of background first, and then we'll get there. I think the information might be useful." 

"Please proceed, Tommy," Cas said. He was fascinated by what he was seeing and hearing. Yes, it was morbid, but Castiel was more accustomed to seeing these types of sights than anyone else in the room due to his long years of existence, so he wasn't as fazed as they were. 

"In the late 1700s, Paris's cemeteries were overflowing, and the city had had a series of cave-ins. The perfect recipe for a mass underground grave," Tommy continued. 

"And this is a big tourist attraction?" Jody asked, a look of distaste on her face. 

"Yes, it is," Tommy confirmed. "Don't ask me why. Each to their own, I guess. Anyway, it's the world's largest grave, 186 miles long. As you can see here, they made sculptures out of human bones. Here are some skulls and femurs, for instance." He changed slides. "You'll descend a narrow spiral stone staircase 19 metres into the darkness." 

"Metres?" Dean asked. "You wanna try that in English?" 

"Maybe next time you're Skyping with Nicole, you should get her to teach you the metric system," Sam teased his brother, grinning. 

"I think we have more important things to talk about than that, Sammy," Dean said, smirking. "If you ever get a nerd girlfriend, you can talk to her about math all you want." 

Gail looked at Dean, lifting an eyebrow. "You and Nicole are Skyping?" she said, her lips twitching. 

"Yeah, and don't give me that look," he said to her. 

"Look? What look?" she said innocently. 

"You know what look," he retorted. "That you-and-Cas, moony-eyed, wedding invitation look. She and I like each other, that's all. End of story." 

"Wow, can I ever pack a lot into a look," Gail wisecracked. She looked at Sam. "Methinks he doth protest too much," they said simultaneously. "Jinx. Buy me a Coke," Sam said, grinning. 

Castiel smiled faintly, but he was in full-on Angel mode now, and they had a mission. So he said, "Can we please return to the point? You were saying, Tommy?" 

"Right. The staircase," Tommy continued. He changed slides again, showing them a photo of the entrance. "You'll want to bring fairly powerful flashlights. I presume you'll be entering late at night, and it'll be very dark in there. And very quiet, also. You'll probably hear water gurgling from a hidden aqueduct. That's about it." 

Tommy paused, and everyone looked at Dean, presumably waiting for him to make some kind of comment. "What?" he said. "Aqueduct. Got it. Moving on." 

"This is the really good part, I think," Tommy told them. "When you come down the stairs to enter the place, there's an inscription carved over the doorway. Who here knows any French? See what it says?" He showed them the slide. 

Cas read the inscription out loud in a surprisingly good French accent: "'Arrete! C'est ici l'Empire de la Mort'." 

Gail's mouth dropped open. "'Stop'!" she translated. "'Here is the Empire of the Dead'." 

Tommy was impressed. "Very good, you two," he commented. "You know French?" 

"I'm a very quick study when it comes to foreign tongues," Castiel told him. "I always have been." 

Gail pursed her lips. She had almost made a quip about Cas's tongue, but she figured she'd better refrain. Frank was giving her a funny look now, almost as if he'd read her mind. 

Sam was shaking his head slowly. Cas knew French. Somehow, that didn't surprise him. It did surprise Sam a little that Gail had been able to translate the inscription that easily, though. Sam supposed he'd have to defer to her on this one; he may know some ancient Enochian, but he hadn't managed to learn much French. 

"Okay, so the Catacombs are the Empire Of The Dead," Chuck mused aloud. "That doesn't exactly narrow it down as far as a possible location for the Tablet goes, though." 

Tommy half shrugged. "True. But I'm just telling you what I found out about the place." 

"Give him a break, Chuck, he's just trying to help," Barry admonished their Angel friend. 

"Hey, I wasn't insulting Tommy," Chuck said defensively. "I was just pointing out...never mind. I'm sorry, Tommy." 

Tommy looked at Barry and smiled. It was sweet of his boyfriend to stick up for him like that. But it was true: his job was just the research. They would have to do the investigating when they got there. Nobody had said it would be easy. He continued, "There's a lot of what they call 'bone art' down there." He showed them a heart-shaped outline in one of the walls that had been formed using skulls embedded in the wall, surrounded by tibias. 

"How romantic," Jody said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Too bad we're not going there for Valentine's Day." 

Tommy smirked, but he continued on with his presentation. The next slide was a picture of a set of rusted gates. "Gates like these block passages leading to other areas of the Catacombs, which are closed to the public. Naturally, that's where you'll be looking. The Tablet has to be somewhere where it wouldn't have been stumbled upon by a tourist, or a worker. Dean, remember you mentioned Nazis earlier?" 

Dean looked startled for a moment, then he did remember. "Yeah. Right," he said. "What about them?" 

"During the Second World War, they established a bunker in the Catacombs," Tommy replied. 

Dean and Sam exchanged glances. A bunker? "What for?" Sam asked. 

"What for?" Tommy echoed. 

"Yeah. Why did they have a bunker there? What did they use it for?" Sam persisted. 

Tommy frowned. "No one really knows. It was dismantled immediately after the war." 

"Then why mention it?" Frank asked him irritably. The bones were bad enough, and now they were talking about Nazis? 

"I'm just giving you all the information I have on the place," Tommy repeated, a bit stiffly. Now he was starting to feel offended. He'd done quite a bit of digging to get this much intel in a very short period of time, and it wasn't up to him to determine what was important, and what wasn't. 

"Why is everybody picking on Tommy?" Gail said, annoyed. "The more information we can get, the better, in my opinion. Forewarned is forearmed, don't you think?" 

"Gail is right," Castiel said firmly. "It's best to know as much as we can about the place before we go there." 

Sam grinned. "Cas, saying Gail is right about something? Mark the date in red on your calendars; that's never happened before." 

"Yeah. Quelle surprise," Dean added unexpectedly. 

"Good for you, Dean. You're learning the language already," Cas quipped, and after a few seconds of quiet, they all laughed. 

That broke the tension. Tommy said, "Look, I don't know if Nazis have anything at all to do with this, but Cas said that this is the Purgatory Tablet that you're after, and he also told me that Purgatory is full of monsters. Well, when I think of monsters, I think of Nazis. They would have killed guys like me and Barry without a second's remorse, but first, they would probably have performed all kinds of diabolical experiments on us. So I don't know if there's any connection or not, but I was damn well going to mention it." 

Frank sighed. "I apologize, Tommy. Of course you should have mentioned it. I just run my mouth sometimes. I think this stupid Catacombs place has just put me on edge." He gestured to the image on the TV. "Six million dead people. 'Bone art'. It's just freaking morbid and creepy, that's all." 

"Yeah, and you know it's gonna be musty there, and it'll probably smell bad," Chuck chimed in. 

"There are sewage systems down there, and the hidden aqueduct Tommy mentioned," Cas pointed out. "It probably will smell, and there will likely be water and sewer rats in the areas that the public has no access to. Also, sewer roaches and silverfish. Of course, the spiders may take care of those," he added conversationally. 

"Really, Cas?" Gail asked him. She shuddered, hoping he was exaggerating about how many awful things might be down there. "Dean may have a thing for snakes, but I have a thing for insects and spiders," she told everyone. "Yech." She shivered again. 

"Well, I have a thing for rats," Chuck said. "I know they can't do anything to me anymore, not really. I'm an Angel now. But when I was a kid, we lived in a run-down neighbourhood, and I woke up one night to find a couple of rats in my bed. One of them bit me, but I couldn't get shots because we had no money for them. So we just had to wait and see if I was going to get some kind of awful disease. Luckily, I didn't, but if we could have afforded therapy, I would have been in it from then on. I had nightmares for years, afterwards." 

Gail felt sympathy for Chuck. She could just imagine how traumatic that must have been for him. "Well, we might not be able to avoid the rats, but maybe Cas can talk to them. Persuade them to go elsewhere, or something, until we finish searching," she said. 

"I can certainly try," Cas said, nodding. His arm was around her waist, and he gave Gail a gentle squeeze. "And I don't know if my powers work on bugs, but I'll try speaking to them too, and ask them to stay away from you." 

Gail smiled. "Thank you. That would be nice." She kissed him on the cheek. 

"All right, ya two idjits, knock it off," Frank growled in his best Bobby imitation, and everyone laughed again. 

"I don't know if we should be laughing at that," Chuck said, although he was doing so. "He can hear us, you know." 

Gail glanced at Cas, who frowned briefly. Actually, Bobby wouldn't have the all-seeing Eye now, Cas thought. That could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing, depending on the circumstances. And just how long were they going to be able to keep that secret from everyone, anyway? 

"You know, this is kind of off topic, but I wanted to ask you something about Bobby, Cas," Sam said. "When Dean and I found him at the mansion, he was all banged up." 

"Yeah, he said that Paul attacked him," Dean added. "But if he's God, why didn't he just wipe the floor with him? Or, why didn't he just kill them all? Isn't he supposed to have the ultimate power?" 

Cas was uncomfortable. "Did you ask Bobby about it, Dean?" 

"Of course I did," Dean grumbled. "He pulled some of that evasive Angel crap on me. I never thought I would see the day when Bobby Singer would talk like an Angel. I've gotta say, I was disappointed." That was an understatement. Dean had always been able to count on Bobby for straight talk. Sometimes, the talk that had come out of Bobby had been a little straighter than Dean had bargained for, in fact. But hearing Bobby hem and haw like a true Angel had taken a little piece of Dean. 

"I'm sure he had his reasons, Dean," Cas said impassively. In point of fact, Cas was feeling anything but impassive about the situation. He was worried, and he was angry. Their friends weren't stupid. Cas was actually a little surprised that they hadn't questioned him more closely about Bobby; Castiel himself certainly would have. But there had just been so much going on. They had probably been too distracted to analyze the implications of Bobby's inaction. 

"He said he was exercising compassion, Dean," Sam said now. "He said after he threw Paul against the wall that first time, he gave him the opportunity to surrender." 

"Yeah, but - " Dean started to argue, but Cas cut him off. "Bobby threw Paul against the wall?" Cas said sharply. He removed his arm from around Gail's waist and leaned forward on the couch. "Did he tell you that, Sam?" 

"Yeah, Cas," Sam replied. He was puzzled. What was the big deal about that? 

But Cas was thinking furiously now. The mansion had had sigils painted all over it. Bobby should not have been able to use his Angel powers at all. None of the others had been able to, not even Castiel himself. Mark had used his powers on Ethan and the young recruits, but Mark was one of the original authors of the Gospels. As such, he would be on the same level as an Archangel when it came to Heaven's hierarchy. Obviously, sigils had no effect on Mark, as they'd had none on Raphael, Gabriel, or any other highest-ranking Angel. But sigils had always been Castiel's weakness, rendering him powerless. How was it that Bobby had been able to overcome them, then? Perhaps another chat with Bobby would be in order. He would wait until they got back from Paris, though. Now that everyone was gathered here and ready to go, he was anxious to get on with it. 

"Does anyone know any French, besides Cas and Gail?" Tommy asked the group now. 

Everyone shook their heads. "Nah, we're ugly Americans," Sam said, grinning sheepishly. 

"The only French words I know are all foods," Jody said with a smile. "Croissants, champagne, escargots...I'm getting hungry, all of a sudden. Can't wait to have some French food." 

"Escargots? You eat snails? Really" Chuck asked her. 

"Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it," she said, shrugging. 

"Hey, I'm just getting used to not having to call them 'Freedom Fries' anymore," Dean chipped in. Everyone laughed. 

"Do you know anything about the culture there?" Tommy asked the room. 

"Not really, no," Sam replied. "I know they're very fashion-forward there, but unless Gail or Jody have suddenly changed their personalities overnight, we won't be spending much time around the runways, I don't think. They're not exactly the girliest girls in the world." 

"I don't know how you have de Gaulle to say that about my wife," Frank piped up. 

Gail gave her brother a double-take. "Did you just say...?" 

Jody was nodding. "Of course he did." She rolled her eyes. "That's your brother." 

"I know, but you married him," Gail joked. "Can I divorce him?" 

Her sister-in-law smiled. "Hey, I'm the crazy one. You just inherited him; I'm the one who chose to be with him." 

"The only French fashion I'm interested in are those French maids' uniforms," Dean said with a smile. "Do you think they'll be wearing those at the hotel?" 

"Really, Dean?" Gail said, looking at him scornfully. "Do you really think that's what they'll be wearing?" 

"It doesn't matter what they'll be wearing, Gail, 'cause that's what they'll be wearing in my imagination," Dean told her, with a comic leer. 

"I will come over there and slap that chauvinism right off your face," she fumed, as he continued to grin at her. 

"You don't have to do that, Gail," Sam said. "All we have to do is call Nicole. Then she can do it, the next time they see each other. Which may be soon; they're filming in Europe right now." 

Dean stopped smiling. "Have you been eavesdropping on us, Sam?" he asked his brother. 

Sam gave Dean a withering look. "You told me that, yourself." 

"Oh," Dean said sheepishly. "Well, anyway, go ahead and tell her. She won't care; she knows me." 

Gail stood down. She'd just been giving Dean a hard time, anyway. She knew he was all talk when it came to that kind of thing. Apparently, he'd been quite the womanizer when he'd been younger, and Sam had not been much different. But now that both brothers were getting a little bit older, they seemed to be maturing a bit in that regard. Of course, she didn't know what they did when they went out on the road, and it was really none of her business, anyway. But Gail knew that Dean wasn't really a male chauvinist pig. He'd always treated her and Jody like equals, even to the extent of giving both of them just as hard of a time as he gave to the men. And coming from Dean, that was being held in the highest of esteem. 

"I did want to visit the movie set briefly, if we have the time," Dean said casually, "but there's one place I need to see in Paris while we're there, and I'm not taking no for an answer." 

"Where's that, Dean?" Cas asked him, curious. 

"Jim Morrison's grave," Dean responded. He tipped his beer bottle up to his mouth and guzzled what was left in it. "I've got to see him." 

"You keep drinking like that, you're going to BE him," Sam quipped. 

No one in the room asked who Jim Morrison was, not even Cas. Tommy smiled wryly. The guy was that famous, he guessed. Or, notorious, maybe. But he and Barry had been residing here for a while now, and Tommy had been a reporter for years, so he had learned to read people. Tommy'd had the feeling that Dean might be interested in doing something like that, just as he'd guessed that Sam might want to see the Eiffel Tower. 

"I didn't know if you'd be able to take the time," Tommy said hesitantly, looking at Cas, "but I also took the liberty of researching Morrison's gravesite, and the Eiffel Tower, if you'd like to visit them." 

Dean looked at Castiel. "Tell you what. How about you give us one day to do that? We can do the recon at the Catacombs, split up, do tourist stuff, then get the Tablet after." 

Castiel frowned. "I think we should just concentrate on the mission, Dean." 

"We will," Dean persisted. "Just give us one day." He smiled ingratiatingly at Cas. "Maybe your wife would like to have a bit of Parisian romance. Neither Jody nor Gail ever had a real honeymoon, right? Jody, you can drink wine and eat your snails, and Gail, you can do...whatever the hell it is you Angels do. Whatever. I don't think I wanna know." 

"I'll let you know if I'm offended by that just as soon as I figure out what you could possibly have meant by it," Gail said pertly. 

Cas was smiling faintly at their exchange as he always did, but now his human side was weighing in. He didn't care what Gail had said before, she must be disappointed in not having had a proper honeymoon. He'd tried to give her as much ceremony and tradition as he possibly could, but because of the ongoing situation with Lucifer, there was so much that she had missed out on. Surely he could relent, and give her one romantic evening in Paris. He took Gail's hand. 

"Je te aime ma cherie epouse," he said to her. Gail smiled. "Je aime mon mari," she replied. 

"Not that I couldn't pretty much guess, but what was that?" Dean asked them. 

Cas was smiling. He answered Dean, but he was still looking at Gail. "I said 'I love you, my dear wife', and Gail said 'I love my husband'." 

"I couldn't come up with a term of endearment," Gail told Cas apologetically. "I'll definitely have to brush up on a few of those, while we're there." 

"'Husband' is a wonderful enough endearment for me," Cas said to her, kissing her hand. 

"I don't think we'll have a problem ditching those two, if you want to go to Jim Morrison's grave," Sam said to Dean, jerking his head towards the Angels. "If they keep that up, they won't even notice we're gone." 

"Great, now they're sickening in two languages," Frank quipped. 

Gail had put her arms around Cas while she was kissing him, and she made a gesture behind Cas's back to her brother with one finger. Everyone who saw it laughed. 

Cas thought they were laughing at what Frank had said, but Gail was hugging and kissing him now, and he didn't really care what the others thought, anyway. "French is a romance language, Frank," Cas said, kissing Gail softly on her nose. She smiled. "You should try it sometime," Cas added. 

"We'll leave that kind of stuff to you guys," Frank said, rolling his eyes. 

"Tommy, can you bail us out here?" Dean asked their friend. "Tell us some more stuff about Paris, so we can get off this subject." 

"Well, I was just going to tell you, Dean, that Jim Morrison is buried in a place called Pere Lachaise Cemetery. There's a Greek inscription on his grave which literally translates into 'according to his own demon'." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked warily. 

"I think it's supposed to be more of a guiding spirit kind of thing, rather than referring to an actual Demon," Tommy replied. "It means: be true to yourself." 

"I always am," Dean said, nodding in approval. 

"And, Sam, I've got some information on the Eiffel Tower for you, too. You should all go, if you get a chance. I've been, and the view is really spectacular on a nice day. Hopefully, nobody has a fear of heights." 

"It would be hard for Sam and Frank to have a fear of heights, seeing as they're already so far up there," Chuck said, grinning. He looked at the photo of the Eiffel Tower that Tommy had put on the TV. "But if nobody else is going to say it, I will: it's very phallic-looking." 

"Are you sure you don't mean Gallic-looking?" Sam quipped. 

"You can be banished, you know," Jody said to him, trying not to smile. "Maybe you and Frank should room together." 

"Then I guess you'll room with me?" Dean said to Jody, smirking. "I'm fine with that, as long as Frank doesn't have access to any weapons." 

Jody grinned. "You wish. Maybe I'll just room with Gail, then." 

Dean snorted derisively. "Good luck prying her and Cas apart. I wouldn't mind rooming with Cas, though. At least I know he wouldn't snore." 

Cas smiled. "That's true. It's Dean who snores," he said. "But there won't be any rearranging of rooms, at least not as far as Gail and I are concerned. We are newlyweds, after all." 

"Yeah, and they're Angels," Sam pointed out. "They don't sleep. So even if they weren't married, it's always made sense for them to room together." 

"What about Chuck?" Dean asked his brother, still smirking. "Shouldn't he just stay in their room, then?" 

"That won't be happening, either," Cas said with a faint smile. "No offense, Chuck." 

Chuck sighed. "None taken. But after this is all over, I've got to get myself a girlfriend." 

"We'll find somebody for you," Gail assured him. "There's someone for everyone out there." 

"Not necessarily," Cas said, shrugging. "We were just speaking about the Eiffel Tower; an American woman actually married the Tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007." 

"There you go, Chuck. If you can't find a woman, you can always marry an inanimate object," Sam quipped. 

Frank was looking strangely at Cas. The guy came up with these non sequiturs every once in a while, and you just had to roll with them. 

"What's the weather like, there?" Gail asked Tommy suddenly. 

"You'll like this," he replied. "It's cool and wet. This time of year, the temperature averages 10 degrees Celsius, with light rain more often than not." 

"Yayyy," Gail said, cheering softly. "Way better than Egypt. And even Rome was a little warm for me." She put her hands on Cas's arm. "I might even have to buy a light jacket." 

"We'll get you something when we get there," he told her. "Then you can say you have an article of clothing that came from Paris." 

She sighed contentedly. "Cool and rainy. Now you're talking my language." 

"I'd like to try to sneak in a visit to the Louvre, too," Sam remarked. "Maybe if it's raining, we can do that." 

"A museum?" Dean said to his brother. "Really?" 

Sam gave him a withering look. "The Mona Lisa? Venus de Milo? It's a chance to see classic pieces of art, Dean." 

Dean shrugged. Big whoop, he thought. A painting of an unattractive woman and a sculpture of another woman who had no arms, for some reason. No, thanks. He'd pass. 

Cas took Gail's hand. "I'll take you for a walk at Montmartre. Narrow, winding streets. Very picturesque, very romantic. We can window-shop and people watch, and then have one glass of wine at sunset." He was remembering his wanderings throughout Europe when he and Gail had been separated during the terrible time. He had been to some of the places they were speaking about, but those places had meant nothing to him at the time, because nothing meant anything without her. He had wanted a second chance to see some of the sights in Europe with Gail, and although this wasn't the optimal circumstance, he much preferred things the way they were now to the way things had been back then. Except for Lucifer being out there, of course. But they were working on that, and they were doing it together. 

"If you get the chance, you should walk up the Champs d'Elysees," Tommy told them. "It leads directly from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. You probably won't walk the whole thing because it's 1.2 miles long, but it's beautifully lit at night, and it could be very romantic." He smiled at Cas and Gail. 

"That sounds wonderful," Cas said, squeezing Gail's hand. 

"I think so, too," Gail agreed. 

"But we can't forget why we're going there, or what our main focus is," Castiel continued. "We'll take the tour of the Catacombs with the public when we get there, and then we'll decide on the best approach. You're likely right, Tommy. We'll probably go there after dark. Sam and Dean can take a look at the security system while we're taking the tour." 

"Sounds good," Dean said, nodding. "Once we're done here, I'll throw a few of our tools into a bag." 

"I think we ARE done here, unless anybody has any questions," Tommy said. "That's all I've got. The rest will be up to you." 

"Thank you for all your information, Tommy. We all appreciate it, very much," Cas told him. 

Barry's boyfriend smiled. "I'm glad to help. Anytime, Cas." 

"Well, you and Barry have been invaluable to us," Jody said. "And we're about to ask you to be of help again. Can you look after Robbie for us once more?" 

"Of course, Jody," Barry replied quickly. "It would be our pleasure. There's only one thing. Tommy and I were talking, and we think that he should start going to school. It's only October; he can catch up, if we enroll him now." 

Castiel frowned. "No." 

"What do you mean, no?" Frank said, and there was an edge to his voice. "Last time I looked, Jody and I were his parents." 

"It's too dangerous, Frank," Cas argued. 

"He needs to be with other kids, kids his own age," Barry insisted. "He can't grow up locked away like this. He deserves a normal upbringing." 

Jody frowned. "There's no such thing as normal, not in our world." 

Tommy gave her a grim smile. "True, but don't you think he should at least have a shot at a more normal way of life by the time he grows up? Maybe he'd like to have a few options, instead of being forced into the life, like a few others in this room were." 

Jody looked at Frank, who tilted his head at Tommy. "Actually, you may have a point," Frank said thoughtfully. "I like what I do, but it's not as if I really had any choices available to me." 

"You're preaching to the choir," Sam said. "We didn't have any choices, either." 

"That's what I'm talking about," Tommy said, then he looked at Barry. "Sorry, hon. What WE'RE talking about. At least give him a chance to see what other types of lifestyles might be out there before he makes his choices." 

"What's your agenda, Tommy?" Dean asked him. 

Tommy's look turned dark. "Agenda? You'd better explain what you mean by that, Dean." 

"It sounds like you think there's something wrong with our lifestyle," Dean said coolly, seemingly unaware of any potential irony. 

Barry couldn't help but grin. "That's quite the turnabout," he quipped. "Wouldn't it usually be the other way around?" 

"In any event, the debate is pointless," Castiel stated. "He can't leave the bunker while Lucifer remains free. None of you can." 

"You know we love you, Cas, but we don't necessarily agree," Barry said soberly. "We can't live our lives cowering in fear. Tommy and I are anxious to get another place. We appreciate the hospitality you've all extended to us here, but we want to move on, soon." 

Frank took Jody's hand. "What do you think?" he asked her. 

She shrugged uncomfortably. Tommy had really gotten to her with his comments regarding choices. Jody knew how close Sam had come to having a normal life, and he had confided in her that even though he loved Dean very much, sometimes he also felt very bitter that he hadn't had the chance to graduate college, get married, and live a normal life. And Jody knew how hard things had been for Frank and Gail growing up. None of the four had been given any choice in the matter, and though she loved them all, Jody knew that they all had issues to this day because of the lack of choice in their lives. Did she really want the same for Robbie? 

"You decide," she told Frank. 

He looked at Barry and Tommy for a moment. "Enroll him," Frank said. 

"Frank - " Cas started to say, but Gail's brother cut him off. "Jody and I are his parents now, Cas. I appreciate your wanting to keep everyone safe, but the kid's gotta have a life, too. Otherwise, what are we even doing here? What good is fighting the Devil if none of has Free Will in the end?" 

Cas was frustrated. "You of all people should understand the potential danger, Frank," he said, raising his voice. "I thank my Father every day that she came into my life, but think about how Gail met me, and Sam, and Dean." He was referring to the fact that Gail and Frank had been abducted by Demons, and Frank had ultimately been killed by them. Surely he hadn't forgotten that. 

"Yeah, I know," Frank retorted. "But that was different." 

"How so, Frank?" Cas asked him. 

"I don't know, Cas, it just is," Frank replied, frowning. "And for the record, I don't think you should be intimidating Barry and Tommy into staying here, if they want to leave." 

Cas's heart sank. Was that what he was doing? He just wanted everyone to be safe, that was all. He said this now, and Gail put her hand on his back to comfort him. He'd let go of her hand and leaned forward when he'd been agitated with Frank, and Gail wanted to try to calm him. 

Cas turned to look at his Vancouver friends. "Is that what I've been doing?" he asked them in a shaky voice. 

"I wouldn't have put it quite that way," Barry said softly, shooting Frank a look. He and Tommy had been meaning to talk to Cas privately and quietly about the issue, but now Frank had gone and put it out there in front of everyone, upsetting Cas in the process. They knew that Cas was a lot more gentle and sensitive than people gave him credit for, and now Frank had put them in an awkward position. 

"We know you're only concerned about our well-being," Tommy said, "but we kind of do want to get our own place, Cas." 

"But you could be a target for Lucifer and his contingent," Cas protested. 

"He already destroyed our home, if you remember," Barry said. "But I don't think he'll bother with us, Cas. We're not any threat to him." 

"All right, but what if Robbie is with you and he does come after you?" Jody asked Barry. 

Tommy was nodding. "You're right, Jody. OK, tell you what. We'll continue to stay here as long as we're taking care of Robbie. But if he's in school, there are going to be times when he's out there alone, you know." 

Frank gave Jody's hand a reassuring squeeze. "We know that, Tommy," he said, sighing. 

Cas was quiet, brooding. He had a bad feeling about this. But they were right: he wasn't responsible for Robbie, not really. Frank and Jody were. And he couldn't tell Tommy and Barry how to live their lives. Apparently, everyone thought he was being overbearing. He needed to back off. 

Then he had an idea. Maybe none of this would be necessary. No more fear, no more exposing anyone to any danger. And the element of surprise would be on his side. 

When Tommy turned off the computer and Chuck turned the lights up, Dean said, "Well, I guess we'll go pack. I'll get the B & E tools out of Baby." 

Cas took Gail's hand and pulled her aside. "Do you mind staying here for a few minutes?" he asked her. "I want to pop up and see Bobby for just a moment." 

She looked at him, a little surprised. This was the first time in a long time that he had suggested that he wanted to go to Heaven without her. 

"Not that I mind, Cas, but I am curious: what do you want to talk to him about?" she asked him. 

Cas was uncomfortable. He'd figured she would ask. He would have, if he had been in her shoes. But he was already lying to her, and now he would have to tell her another lie. He reminded himself that he had the best of intentions. 

"I want to talk to him about asking our Father for the reins back, at least for the time being," Cas told her, wincing internally. He needed to tell her something she might believe. "At least until the crisis is over, anyway." 

"I'm all for that," Gail said quietly. But she secretly wondered: If Bobby could do that, wouldn't he have done it already? Bobby was a bit of a mystery to her. She'd always known him to be a straightforward and honourable type of man. Yet he seemed to be deserting them now. Was he that frightened of Lucifer? But could she really blame him? She'd seen Bobby when he'd gotten back from his stint in Lucifer's cage, and she never wanted to see him like that again. 

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Gail said to Cas now. She was thinking that her presence could serve as a buffer. Frequently, when Bobby and Castiel talked about potentially contentious issues, both men ended up losing their tempers. 

"I'm sure," Cas responded shortly. 

She looked up at him. It sounded like he was already losing his temper. But what was she supposed to do? She and Cas weren't joined at the hip, contrary to what most people thought. And, maybe he and Bobby could have a more brutally honest conversation if she wasn't there. 

"OK, sweetie," she said. "I'll pop back to our place and pack our bags, and then I'll come back here and wait for you." 

Cas gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and he winked out immediately, without another word. 

OK, that was pretty weird, Gail thought. He must really be preoccupied about talking to Bobby. But she shrugged it off. She told Frank she was going home and would be back in a few minutes, and then she winked herself out of the bunker. 

Cas appeared in front of the mansion, with Crowley by his side. 

The instant Castiel disappeared from the bunker, he had gone to the crossroads and summoned the King of Hell. 

"What is it, Castiel?" Crowley said warily. 

"I need to hear directly from you that you didn't set us up," Cas said evenly. 

Crowley laughed shortly. "What does it matter, Castiel? You're just going to believe what you prefer to believe, anyway." 

"You had better hope that's not the case," Cas said. He reached into his blazer and pulled out a Demon knife. 

"So, you're finally going to do it," Crowley said tonelessly. "That's why the missus isn't here with you, I take it? You don't want her to see your hands soiled with my blood." 

'Don't be stupid," Cas barked. "This is just insurance. For the record, I don't believe you did set us up. If you'd wanted Lucifer to have us, you wouldn't have sent us back to the bunker. So...thank you." 

Crowley stared at him, open-mouthed. He wished he'd had a video camera for that. Now he had no proof that it had ever happened, and it would likely never happen again. 

"Why did you ask me here?" he inquired. 

"I want you to come back to the mansion with me now," Castiel said. "Let's end this thing. He won't be expecting us. We can give him everything we've got, and you never know, it might be enough. At the very least, maybe we can hurt him. I'm tired of being passive." 

"Good for you, Castiel," Crowley said, nodding in approval. It was about time his Brother rediscovered his warrior side. "There's only one problem with that: What about the sigils?" 

Cas sighed. "Lucifer offered me the wrong terms. If he'd told me that I would never again be incapacitated by sigils, I might have been inclined to take the deal." 

Crowley was astonished. Not only had Castiel thanked him for something, now his Brother was joking with him? What had gotten into Castiel? And why were there no witnesses? 

"So, what about the sigils, then?" Crowley asked him. 

Cas looked at him. "If you promise not to go overboard, as you did that other time, I will get you to breathe some of your essence into me. When I was the Demon, sigils did not affect me. And your essence will make me more aggressive, which will be an asset when we confront him." 

Crowley was impressed. What Castiel was proposing was actually very smart. And very trusting, too, he thought, especially considering what Cas believed to have happened the last time. "And what if I do go overboard?" he said, smirking, unable to help himself. 

Castiel waved the knife in his face. "You'll find out," he said. 

Crowley rolled his eyes. Still, if this worked, they might very well be able to take care of Lucifer right here and now. "Come here, then," he said abruptly, and Cas leaned forward. Crowley breathed half a breath of his essence into Castiel's open mouth. 

"There," the King said. "Should be good enough. How do you feel?" 

Cas stood there a moment, thinking. How DID he feel? He smiled slowly. "Like kicking Satan's ass," he told Crowley. 

They winked into the mansion. 

About an hour later, everyone was sitting around the bunker, waiting for Cas to return. 

"What's taking so long?" Frank grumbled. 

"Yeah, let's go, already," Dean agreed. "What's the holdup, Gail?" 

She was getting a little concerned, herself. Gail obviously hadn't wanted any of them to know why Cas had wanted to talk to Bobby, so she hadn't mentioned where he had gone, only that he'd had an errand to run. But now she was also wondering what was taking him so long. 

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore. "I'll be right back," she told them, and then she winked herself to Bobby's reception area. 

Laurel looked up. "Oh, hi, Gail," she said pleasantly. "How are you?" 

"I'm OK, Laurel," Gail said absently. She nodded towards Bobby's door. "Are they still talking?" 

"Is WHO still talking?" Laurel asked, puzzled. 

"Cas and Bobby," Gail said. Had Laurel been away from her desk when Cas had gotten here, maybe? 

"Cas? He's not here, Gail. I've been here all morning," Laurel told her. 

Now Gail was really puzzled. Had Cas just winked directly into Bobby's office? But that would be strange, because they always observed proper protocol when they came here. 

"Do you mind if I go in for a minute?" Gail asked Bobby's receptionist. Laurel waved her hand as a signal to proceed, and Gail tapped softly on the door. 

"Come in," Bobby said. 

Gail walked into Bobby's office and looked around. He was sitting behind his desk, and he was alone. Now she was really mystified. 

"What's the matter, Gail?" Bobby said, seeing the look on her face. "Where's Cas?" 

"I was about to ask you the same thing," she said slowly. 

"How the hell should I know?" Bobby said grumpily. What was going on with these two now? 

"Didn't he come to see you a while ago?" she asked him. 

"No," Bobby told her. 

Gail stood, frozen, wondering what was going on. "So you didn't see him at all?" she persisted. 

"No, Gail, I haven't seen him. What's going on?" Bobby asked her. Now, he was as puzzled as she was. 

"I'm not sure, Bobby," Gail said dazedly. Cas had lied to her. But why? He didn't do things like that. There had to be a good reason. Where would he want to go that he wouldn't want to tell her about? 

She cursed inwardly. Of course. "Sorry to have disturbed you, Bobby; I was obviously mistaken," Gail said quietly. She popped out of his office, leaving a very puzzled Bobby behind. 

Cas's head snapped up. Gail was calling him on their private frequency, and she did not sound happy. Not only that, but she sounded nearby. 

"Gail is here, and she's very angry," he told Crowley. A brief smile flashed across his face. He wished they would be able to go back to the house after he finished up here. He would like to find out how hot things would be between them when she was that angry with him. Of course, the way she had sounded, she might just slap him across the face and then pop out again. 

Then Cas corrected himself. He shouldn't be thinking like that. He had asked Crowley for some of his essence to give him the extra boost he needed to deal with Lucifer, but that was all. She should not see him like this, and he should not be like this around her. But he had taken too long, and now it was too late. 

He looked at Crowley. "Take it out of me," Cas said. 

Crowley simply looked at him. 

"Take it from me! Quickly, before she gets here!" Cas raised his voice. 

"Too late," Gail said from behind him. 

She had popped over to the mansion's front lawn directly from Heaven, and then she'd sent her angry message to Cas. He was in there, she just knew it, and she would bet a billion dollars he wasn't alone. She had stalked angrily across the lawn to the front door expecting to be repelled, but inexplicably, she'd been able to walk right in. Then she'd found the men here, in the salon. 

Cas wheeled around when she spoke, panicked. Gail saw the blood all over his shirt and his hands and she moved forward quickly, glaring at Crowley. "What did you do?" she asked the King of Hell. 

"Really, sweetheart?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He stepped aside to reveal a slumped, bloody figure tied to a chair behind himself and Cas. 

It was Paul. He raised his head slowly to look at Gail. She was horrified. His clothing was soaked with blood, and it looked like he had been beaten to a bloody pulp. 

Gail walked up to Cas and looked him in the eyes. "What do you want Crowley to take from you, Cas?" she asked him quietly. 

"His knife," Crowley said smoothly. 

"Ohhh, his knife," she said sarcastically. "Because if you had taken his knife, I never would have been able to guess what had happened here." She touched Cas's shirt, and her hand came away wet with blood. Cas winced as though he was the one that was wounded. "Maybe YOU want to try answering me this time," Gail said to Cas. "What did you want Crowley to take from you?" 

"His essence," Cas said in a low voice. 

Gail pressed her lips together. This was unbelievable. She looked at Paul, then looked back at Cas. "Did he tell you anything of use?" she asked him. 

Cas was astonished. He'd expected her to start yelling at him. He knew this wasn't over, but he admired her restraint. 

Gail was just barely holding it together, but she didn't want to give Cas a dressing-down in front of Paul. Maybe even not in front of Crowley. But, especially not in front of one of Lucifer's men. Cas and Crowley had obviously been trying to get information out of Paul. And while she disliked seeing the results of torture, Gail had come to realize that it was sometimes necessary in their world. As far as she was concerned, pretty much anything that would help them to defeat Lucifer was fair game. And Paul was a Demon, and he had set Cas up in the past. So she didn't really feel too much sympathy for him. 

What bothered her, though, was the reference to Crowley's essence. When Gail had looked in Cas's eyes, she had seen a touch of purple in them, and it had made her blood run cold. He had lied to her back at the bunker, he was here with Crowley, and he had obviously tortured the crap out of Paul. What the hell was going on with him? How angry should she be? And, how scared? 

No. She was never going to be scared like that again. He owed her some answers, and she was going to get them, right now. "Did you get anything out of him?" she asked him again, in a harsh voice. 

Crowley was staring at her. "No, we didn't," he answered in Cas's stead. "And we won't, either. Lucifer is gone, but he didn't tell this one where he was going." 

"How do you know?" she asked him. "Maybe he's just not telling you." 

Crowley arched his eyebrow. Well, she had asked. "Castiel was very...persistent in his questioning, and very creative in his methods," he replied, with a trace of a smile. "Just like back in the good old days." 

Now Gail was fuming. She could understand why Cas had the urge to run his blade through Crowley every time he saw him. But her husband wasn't really doing any better in her books right now. What was the disciplinary procedure in Heaven for pulling a blade on your own spouse, she wondered? The way she was feeling right now, she'd risk the penalty. 

"Fine; if he's not going to tell you anything, just handle him, and then meet us outside," Gail snapped at Crowley. She grabbed Cas by the arm and gave him a mighty yank. 

Cas smirked again. He just couldn't help it. Even in the quasi-Demonic state he was in, Cas thought that she was cute. He grabbed her hand and winked them both outside the house. 

She jerked her hand out of his. Right. Sigils didn't affect Demons, did they? 

"What the hell, Cas?" she yelled at him. "What's going on?" 

"I had the idea to come back here and surprise Lucifer," Cas told her. "I figured if Crowley and I were both to attack him, and if I had the extra juice, we might just defeat him. But the place is covered in sigils, if you'll recall." Gail opened her mouth to tell him that she had just walked into the house, but then she closed it again. Did that really matter, at this point? Cas continued, "So I had Crowley breathe just enough essence into me to overcome that. And I thought the extra aggressiveness couldn't hurt, either, if we were to engage with Lucifer. But when we got here, he was gone. He left a note in the library stating that he thought we might try something like this. Taunting us. But Paul was here, so we decided to question him about Lucifer's whereabouts. And that's when you came in." 

"When Crowley gets out here, he'll take every ounce of that stuff out of you," Gail said to him, tight-lipped. "And when he does, you're going to promise me that you'll never do it again. And you're going to mean it." 

"Don't be angry," Cas said softly. But then he smiled and put his arms around her waist. "Unless you want to go back to the house and shout at me some more." He pushed her up against the side of the house. "I might like that. In fact, we both might like it." He kissed her, opening her mouth with his tongue. 

Gail couldn't help but respond; this was Cas, after all. But when she could feel his growing state of excitement and his hands started to wander on her body, she broke the kiss and pushed him away from her. "No. Not until you're yourself again," she told him. 

His look turned dark for a moment, but then he stepped away from her. "You're right, Gail. I'm sorry," he said to her. "I shouldn't be like this around you." 

"You shouldn't be like this, period," Gail said firmly. "What the hell were you thinking, Cas? You know you can't have any Demon essence in you. You and I both know what it does to you." 

"That's why I thought it would be a good idea to have it, if we ran into Lucifer," Cas argued. 

"You don't have to be a Demon to defeat him, Cas. You just have to have more confidence in yourself," Gail said to him. "I don't know why you don't, or where the hell it went, but didn't you used to be a warrior? According to some of the stories I've heard, you were a pretty effective killing machine during the Angel Wars, without any Demon influence at all." 

Cas half-frowned. "Yes, I was. But I don't want to be that person anymore." 

"Better to be an avenging Angel than a Demon," Gail said bluntly. 

"I believe I'm being insulted," Crowley said, appearing at Cas's side. 

"You know what I mean," Gail said to him. "Don't even get me started. Just take it out of him so we can get to Paris." 

Crowley's eyebrows raised. "Paris? You don't say? So you're going to have your honeymoon in the City of Lights?" 

No, she was going to have her honeymoon in the Empire Of The Dead, and as angry as she still was, these two could very well be joining the sculptures there. 

"Don't change the subject," she snapped at Crowley. Then she looked at Cas. "Strangely enough, I'm not feeling very honeymoon-y right now." 

Cas moved closer to her, putting his arms around her. "You'll change your mind as soon as we get there," he said in her ear. Then he gave it a little lick. "Maybe we'll just stay in our room the first day. Let the humans do their sightseeing. There are a lot of sights we can see without ever leaving our room. And there are a few sounds I'd like to hear from you, too." 

If he didn't have that purple tinge to his eyes, and Crowley hadn't been standing there smirking at the two of them, Gail might have suggested they do just that as soon as they got to Paris, but she pushed him away again. He was making it difficult, but she wanted nothing to do with him while he was in this state. It was a slippery slope, one she knew all too much about. 

"Take it out of him, now," she said to Crowley. 

"And what if I don't, sweetheart?" he asked, still smirking. After all this time, despite what the Angels thought, Crowley still thought that his Brother could benefit from having some Demon inside of him. They would just have to settle on the right amount, kind of like working out a formula. If Castiel could learn how to control it, he could do some amazing things. Gail needed to get off his back and stop nagging him. A few days into the marriage, and she was already starting to henpeck him. "Castiel and I have talked, and we think he should stay this way until Lucifer is dealt with," Crowley told Gail. They hadn't, of course; he just wanted to see what she would say. 

Gail laughed derisively. "Oh, you two have talked, have you?" She looked at Cas. "Well, if anybody sends us any late wedding gifts, I'll forward them on to Hell, cause I guess that's where you'll be living!" she yelled at him. 

"That conversation never took place," Castiel told her, glaring at Crowley. "He is lying." 

"Of course he is! That's what Demons do, right? How was your talk with Bobby?" she said sharply. "Oh, that's right, that never happened, did it?!" 

The Demon part of Cas was getting annoyed by her harping, but mostly, he felt ashamed. He shouldn't have lied to her like that. Of course she was angry. He had been so horrible to her when he had been a full-fledged Demon. Even though he'd had the potion inside of him as well, influencing him, making him even worse, did he really want a repeat? Even just a hint of roughness would be completely unacceptable. 

"Take it out, Crowley," Castiel said to the King. 

"Oh, that's right, you vowed to be subservient," Crowley said sarcastically. "Which means she's got your bollocks in her purse now, right?" 

"No, she doesn't," Cas retorted. "It just so happens that I want it out, too. I'm not a Demon, and I don't ever want to be one again." He looked at Gail with sad eyes. "Never again. I promise." He faced Crowley. "Take it out." 

Crowley sighed. "All right, Castiel." He knew there was no point arguing with these two once they had their minds made up, and he'd only been having a laugh, anyway. He could understand why Gail was reluctant to play around with this sort of thing. So he opened his mouth and sucked the Demon back out of Castiel, and this time, he took it all. 

"Happy?" Crowley asked Gail when he was done. 

"How the hell did you know about Castiel vowing to be subservient?" she asked him sharply. 

Crowley sighed. He had slipped up, there. But he supposed it didn't really matter now if they knew. "I was there, sweetheart," he told her quietly. 

"You were there? But we didn't see you," Gail said, surprised. 

"More to the point, we didn't invite you," Castiel said bluntly. That was rather rude, in Crowley's opinion. But, what else was new? 

"Father let me in, and I stood in the back," the King told them. "I guess I just...wanted to see." He was uncomfortable now. Why he had even wanted to witness their wedding was beyond him. 

Cas and Gail looked at each other. She could see that her husband was back to normal now, and Gail supposed there had been no harm done, not really. Still, maybe she and Cas should have a little talk. Despite what Crowley had said, Gail didn't expect Cas to defer to her. But a little discussion would be nice, at least. 

Cas smiled gently. Their wedding had been so romantic. He hoped she wouldn't remain angry at him; he was really looking forward to seeing Paris with her. 

Gail took a deep breath, and then let it out. "What did you do with Paul?" she asked Crowley. 

"Put him in a time-out," Crowley told her casually. 

"What's that mean?" she asked him. 

"Do you really want to know, sweetheart?" he asked her, smiling faintly. 

She considered. "You know what? You're right. I don't," she told him. She extended her hand to Cas. "Let's go," Gail said to her husband, and she winked them back to the bunker. 

She took them outside, first. "Everyone's waiting for us in there. I didn't say anything about where you'd gone. Or, where I THOUGHT you'd gone. So go ahead and do your evasion thing, and then we won't be lying to anyone." She frowned. Except for the fact that Cas had lied to her, of course. 

Cas saw the look on her face. "I'm very sorry, Gail. I really thought that was going to work." 

"Fine, but why did you have to lie to me, Cas?" she asked him. "Why couldn't you have just told me that that was what you had in mind?" 

"Because you would have wanted to come with me," Cas said to her. 

She thought about that. Then, she nodded. Yes, of course she would have. 

Cas moved forward and took her hands tentatively in his. He was happy that she didn't immediately pull away. Then he looked at her with a grave expression. "We can't keep getting lucky, Gail," Cas said to her. "I don't want you getting anywhere near Lucifer, not if I can help it. I know what he's capable of. We're very fortunate that he hasn't caused us any lasting harm. Yet. But we can't keep giving him opportunities. Sooner or later, he'll get tired of playing with us, and he'll step up his game." 

Gail sighed. "I understand what you're saying, Cas, and I love how you always want to protect me. But we're supposed to be a team, aren't we? I don't want you lying to me anymore. Please. Let's at least just talk about things, first. And please, no more Demon stuff. Please, Cas." She squeezed his hands. "I don't know what I can say to you that would possibly increase your self-confidence, sweetie, but you know that's not the answer. And I've got to tell you, Cas: if I ever see you as a Demon again, it'll be a deal-breaker," she concluded grimly. 

Cas felt a frisson of fear. "What do you mean?" he asked her. She gave him a look. "What do you think I mean, Cas? I'm not going to be married to a Demon. Just remember that, the next time you and Crowley decide to put your heads together." 

He stared at her. He could see that she really meant it. "I won't do that again, Gail," he told her miserably. "I swear to you." 

"Good," she said. "Good." 

They stood there quietly, then Gail moved closer to him and touched his face. "OK, sweetie. I won't be mad anymore," she told him, and his expression relaxed. "Now, give me one really good kiss before we go inside." 

Cas wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She opened her mouth to him this time, and their tongues came together for a moment. "I love you, Cas," Gail told him. "The REAL you. I don't want you to be subservient, but I don't want you to be the dominating Demon, either. I just want you to be...you. That's who I love." 

He smiled. "And I will never get over how lucky I am that you do," he said softly. "You are my whole life." 

They kissed for another minute, and then they winked themselves inside.


	6. Wishful Sin

They had done their walking tour of the Catacombs, and Sam and Dean had done the recon. 

"We can get in here at night, no problem," Sam said quietly to Cas. 

Great, Chuck thought. Not only were all these bones morbid as hell, but he just knew there were going to be lots of rats, and it would be dark in here after hours. It didn't matter how many flashlights their group had, it wouldn't be nearly enough light for him. The instant that he saw something move in the dark out of the corner of his eye, he was going to scream just like a little girl. He just knew it. 

Cas had been examining the inscription on the archway that referred to the Empire Of The Dead. But it was just a stone archway, nothing more. The passageway beyond led into the area where the tour guide had told them that the Nazis had had their bunker, during the war. 

"I'm getting one of my intuitions," Gail told Cas. "I have the feeling that the Tablet is connected to Nazis, somehow. So it's probably down that passage, where the bunker used to be." 

"So, the Nazis had a bunker here during the Second World War?" a man in the tour group asked. "I thought that the French resisted that regime." 

The tour guide frowned. "That was a dark period in France's history, Sir. The truth is that the Parisians collaborated with and enabled the Nazis for a while, before the Resistance was formed. Most historians now agree that that cooperation lasted too long, and the Resistance did not resist nearly enough. It is our shame." 

"Are there still Nazis here in Paris today?" a woman asked. 

"We do have small core groups of skinheads and neo-Nazis, the same as other cities do," the tour guide replied, somewhat defensively. "They're called 'Les Rebelles Blancs'. A fairly self-explanatory term, I would venture to say. But they're not too active any more. I can't remember the last time I saw anything about them on the news." 

Cas couldn't help but think of Paul at that moment. He was pretty sure that Paul would be back in Hell with Crowley now, and that Crowley would be punishing him for having defected to Lucifer. Paul thought that the Angels were bigots? Maybe he would have liked to have been on the Earth during the Nazi era. 

The tour had concluded now, and they had the rest of the day to kill before they would come back to this spot in the evening. So they exited the Catacombs and stood out on the street. The weather was cool, but the day was sunny, and Cas wanted to take advantage of the clear weather to take Gail for that walk he'd had in mind. 

"Sounds good to me," she said when he broached the subject. It would be nice to see a bit of the city, and the air was nice and cool today. 

The couple looked at the others, and the silence was starting to become a bit uncomfortable. Cas and Gail weren't sure if they were being rude, but they didn't really want to invite anyone along. But as it turned out, no one in their group really wanted to go with them, anyway. They all seemed to have their own agendas. All except for Chuck. He loved his friends, but the last thing that Chuck needed right now was a reminder of how in love they were, and how lonely he was by comparison. Chuck was definitely the odd man out. When the other Musketeers were present, it wasn't as noticeable. But here in Paris, Chuck felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb. Cas and Gail were a couple, and Frank and Jody were a couple. Hell, even Sam and Dean were a couple, in a manner of speaking. 

Dean still wanted to go to Jim Morrison's grave, and Sam agreed to tag along with him. Big surprise there. In all the time that Chuck had known them, Dean had almost always gotten his way. Sam was a grown man, but more often than not, he deferred to his older brother. 

Jody wanted to eat lunch, and then she wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower. She had thrown the pills away, but she blamed them for making her feel hungry all the time. But on the plus side, she wasn't feeling dizzy any more. 

Chuck was out of sorts. He didn't want to be a third wheel to any of the couples, but he did want to get out there and see some of Paris for himself. So he told them that he was going to wander around for a while. They all arranged to meet back at the hotel around suppertime. 

Everyone dispersed, and Chuck just stood there, looking around. He decided to just start walking and enjoy the sunshine. There wasn't a whole lot of sunshine in Heaven. 

Chuck walked for a bit, and then he decided to sit down at an outdoor cafe. He ordered a glass of red wine, just to assimilate. He knew they wouldn't let him sit out here for long if he didn't order something. Maybe he'd even have a couple of sips, just for old times' sake. 

A short while later, Chuck lifted the glass to his lips and he was about to take a drink when he felt his arm jiggle. The wine spilled on his shirt and pants as he jumped up from his seat. 

"Hey!" Chuck exclaimed. He turned around to look at the culprit. 

"I'm so sorry, dearie," Rowena said. "Can I buy you another?" 

"Are you feeling OK, Jody?" Frank asked her. They'd just finished lunch, and they were having a cup of coffee now. 

"Yeah, Frank. Why do you ask?" 

"No more dizzy spells, or anything like that?" he persisted. 

"Nope," she said casually. "I probably just didn't have enough to eat that day." For an instant, she considered telling him about the pills she had been taking at the time. But she'd had to quit taking them, because of the side effects. And now they had come here, so she hadn't had the chance to go back and talk to the doctor yet. And, until she did, Jody didn't want to get Frank's hopes up. The time for that discussion would be after they'd gotten all the Tablets. 

"Do you think we made the right decision, letting Robbie go back to school?" Frank asked his wife. 

Jody shrugged, frowning. "I don't know, Frank. People think that once you're a parent, you automatically know all the answers. But for the record, I do think you're right. I think he needs to live a more normal life than any of you did. At least, we'll try to give him that. And Barry and Tommy are great with him. They love him a lot, and the feeling is clearly mutual." 

Frank nodded. Thank God those guys had come along. But he and Jody were traipsing around the world now, when all that Frank really wanted to do was stay at home and spend some time with his new son. Christmas would be here before they knew it, and Frank wanted to give the kid a really good one. But who knew where they would be then? Barry and Tommy had been a real Godsend, though; otherwise, the poor kid would probably have had to go into foster care, or something. He and Jody loved Robbie to pieces, but as long as Cas needed them on these missions, here was where they had to be. Although, Lord only knew what they were doing on this particular mission, unless it was just to provide the extra protection. Quite honestly, they hadn't really been of any assistance in getting any of the Tablets yet. Maybe Frank would talk to Cas about that and see if there was anything more that he and Jody could do to help get rid of Lucifer. 

He signaled for the cheque. 

Cas and Gail had been strolling for an hour or so, and now they were sitting on a bench, resting their feet. 

Gail had been enjoying the cool fall weather, but now as the afternoon waned, she was actually getting a little chilly. She crossed her arms, rubbing herself with her hands. 

The moment that Cas saw that, he took off his blazer. He took his blade out of the pocket, transferring it to his pants pocket. Then he put the blazer around her shoulders. 

"We were supposed to get you a jacket, weren't we?" Cas said to her. "I'm sorry." 

Gail shrugged. "Are you kidding? "I love it. Don't worry about it. When we get moving, I'll warm up again, I'm sure." She pulled the blazer closer around her. "But thanks for this, though." She sniffed the fabric. "It even smells like you. You'll have to loan me one of these, the next time you and I are apart." 

"I can't see that ever happening," he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. 

Gail snuggled against him, content to just sit there in his arms for a while. She had been extremely angry with him back in the States, but she was pretty sure she'd gotten her point across. He had been truly sorry; she could tell. And, they were still technically on their honeymoon, and it was a gorgeous day. 

"Are you chilly?" Cas asked her. "Do you want to go inside?" He held her closer, kissing her softly on the forehead. 

"Yes," she told him. "Yes, I do." 

And she winked them back to the hotel. 

Dean took a hit from the bottle of whiskey he'd brought to the gravesite and passed the bottle to Sam. Dean was feeling the effects of the liquor now. "You know, Jim Morrison had it right," he said to his brother. 

Sam took a drink from the bottle and passed it back to Dean, grinning. "Yeah? How's that? O.D.'ing at age 29?" 

Dean shrugged. "Hey, you know what they say. Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse." 

"Call me crazy, but I'd rather live a long, happy life, and then die wrinkled and ugly," Sam quipped. 

Dean took another swig. "Besides, there's no actual evidence that he's dead." He gestured to the gravestone. "The Lizard King could be pretty much anywhere he wanted to be right now." 

"Yeah, and what would he be, like, 80 years old, by now?" Sam said sardonically. 

Dean gave his brother a withering look. "Whatever, Sammy. Don't ruin this for me." 

"You're drinking at the grave of a misogynistic self-abuser who was lucky enough to have a couple of hit songs," Sam said, shrugging. "What would I be ruining, exactly?" 

Dean glared at him now. "Fine, Judge-y McJudgerson. Why don't you go to your art museum, then?" He looked at the tombstone. "Don't mind him, Jim." 

"He was into art, you know," Sam said cheerfully. "Poetry, too." 

Dean took another drink, then put the bottle down. "OK, Sammy, have it your way," he said in a conciliatory tone. "But for me, it's all about the rock and roll." 

Sam shrugged again. "Hey, lyrics are poetry too, right?" He grabbed the bottle as the two brothers smiled at each other. 

But after Sam took another drink, his expression turned serious. 

"What's the matter?" Dean asked him. 

"Talking about poetry made me think about Cas and Gail, and their wedding vows," Sam told him. 

"So? What about 'em?" Dean asked. 

Sam frowned. "OK, not so much about their wedding vows, but about them," he replied. "Is it just me, or do they know something they're not telling us?" 

"Like what?" Dean said. 

"If I knew that, I wouldn't - " Sam let a frustrated breath out. 

"Yeah, yeah, OK. I know what you mean, Sammy," Dean said, nodding. "But you know Cas. He's always been weird, and the more time she spends with him, the more habits of his she's picking up. She's even been evasive with me a couple of times recently." 

"There's more to it than just Angel stuff, though. I'm sure of it," Sam continued. "We've got to get them talking somehow." 

Dean started to smile. "Leave it to me." 

She was a gorgeous, petite redhead, and she was hanging onto his arm, and onto his every word. 

Chuck had had a few drinks now, and he felt light-headed. It couldn't be the booze, though. He was an Angel, and liquor didn't affect Angels. At least, that was what he had always been led to believe. 

It must be the nearness of this woman that was doing that to him. She was sitting beside him, and as the bar had become noisier, she had moved even closer. Her hand was on his arm now, and as she leaned in to talk to him, he could feel her breath in his face. Then, after one more round, she became even bolder. Her lips brushed his ear when she spoke, and now, her hand was on his thigh. 

He'd had his arm draped over the back of her chair, but now he put it around her, and she didn't pull away. In fact, she leaned in even closer, and her breasts brushed against his chest. 

"It's getting awfully noisy in here," Rowena remarked. "Maybe we should get out of here and talk someplace quieter." 

"I would like that," Chuck said. The truth was, he didn't really mind what they were doing right now; he couldn't remember the last time he'd been this close to a woman. But maybe, if they went somewhere more private, she would let him touch her a bit more. 

Then he remembered. "What time is it?" he asked her. 

"Why? What does that matter?" Rowena asked him softly. 

"I have...an appointment," Chuck told her. 

"Oh." Rowena affected a pout. She drew back from him. "Well, if you're so busy, maybe we should just forget it. I thought we could go someplace and get to know each other better." 

"No, no, I want to do that," Chuck said, panicking. He signaled to the waitress. "What time is it, honey?" he asked her. She told him, and he realized he still had a bit of time before they were all due to meet up. He threw some money down on the table and grabbed Rowena by the hand. "Let's get out of here." 

She allowed him to lead her out of the bar, but once they got down the street about a block or so, Rowena turned to him. "What about your appointment?" 

Chuck seriously thought about sending Cas a message on Angel Radio and telling him he couldn't make it. If they got the Tablet tonight, they would probably just have to head back. "Do you live here in Paris?" he asked Rowena. Then he smiled. "Hey, I don't even know your name." 

"It's Desiree," she told him, answering his smile. 

But now, Chuck frowned. It figured. He sighed. "Well, I hate to tell you this, but I really need to make that appointment," he said to her. "But, is there any way I can get your number? I could call you after I'm done, if that's OK." 

Rowena moved in closer to him. "Do you promise you'll call?" Her lips grazed his cheek. 

"If I can, I definitely will," he told her. 

Rowena pouted. "That doesn't sound very definitive. I don't enjoy being stood up, Chuck." 

He thought about that for a moment. "Stood up?" he said, puzzled. "But we didn't actually make any plans yet." 

"No," Rowena said, fluttering her eyelashes. "But are you saying you wouldn't like to see what's under my clothes?" He felt her fingers lightly stroke the front of his pants. "And maybe do something about it?" she continued in a soft voice. 

Chuck's breathing was ragged now. "If you give me your number, we have a definite date," he said. "It doesn't matter when, or where. I'll call you. Guaranteed." 

"You'd better," she said lightly, but she frowned slightly. "If you don't, I would be extremely disappointed." 

"Believe me, so would I," Chuck said. Oh, what the hell? He leaned down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he opened her mouth, sliding his tongue inside her lips. Rowena smiled, and she grabbed his hand and put it on her breast. Chuck moaned. 

Rowena broke the kiss. "Hotel Parisienne," she told him. "Room 319. Come when you're done." Then she walked away, leaving him to stare after her, open-mouthed. 

Cas and Gail were cuddling now. They had already made love a couple of times, and the time that they had arranged to meet the group was drawing nearer. 

"I love you so much, Gail," Cas said softly, kissing her on her forehead. "Thank you for forgiving me." 

She wanted to keep the mood light, so she said, "And thank you for loving me. Twice." 

He smiled. "And thank you for marrying me," he said, his tone matching hers. 

Gail lifted her head from his chest. "You win," she said, smiling. 

"Yes, I certainly do," Cas said, nodding. 

"Care to hear me thank you again?" she said, raising an eyebrow. 

"I certainly would," he said, his smile widening. He rolled her over onto her back and moved down her body. He gently opened her legs and caressed her thighs. Then he kissed her between her legs. He kissed her again with his mouth open, then again, just as if he was kissing her on the mouth. This was new, and she liked it. She liked everything that Cas did to her, and just when she thought she had him pretty much figured out, he expanded his repertoire. She made a sound. 

"What's that?" he asked her, smiling, and he kissed her again. Then he gave her a little lick, then another. She whimpered. He put his hands on her hips and brought her closer to him, and then he started to use his tongue on her in earnest. 

"Cas!" she cried out. "I love you!" He smiled, and he continued to lick her until she slowed down her movements. Then he put his lips around her and kissed her again, enjoying the taste of her. 

"Come here, please," Gail said to him, and he brought his body back on top of her and entered her. He moved in and out, slowly at first, loving how she felt under him. She was so soft and smooth, and so warm. Then the excitement became too much, and he sped up. 

"Cas," she said again, and he put his arms around her, pulling her close. He pushed forward a couple more times, hard, knowing by now that she didn't mind that, and then he cried out her name, telling her he loved her. 

They cuddled for a few minutes afterwards, and then Cas asked her, "Are you happy, Gail?" 

She kissed him softly on the cheek. "Am I happy?" she echoed. "Are you nuts? Of course I'm happy! I'm married to you, aren't I?" She smiled. Then she said, "What about you? Are you happy?" 

"If it didn't mean I might have to be without you, I could die right now," Cas said dreamily. 

She loved him more than anything, but he certainly did express himself differently, Gail thought with some amusement. "A simple 'Yes" would suffice," she told him, her smile fading. "Nobody's going to die, Cas. No one." 

Cas's arms drew tighter around her. "No, of course not. I didn't mean to upset you, Gail. It was a poor choice of words. I never can find the right words to tell you how much I love you, and how happy you make me." 

Gail lifted her head and kissed him on the mouth. "I'd better get in the shower," she told him. "We have to meet everyone soon." 

Sam and Dean had been a little tipsy when they'd left the cemetery, but they sobered up a little on the walk back. It was just as well; if they had to commit another international crime, they might as well be sober enough to do it. 

Dean threw their tools into a bag and they left their room. Cas and Gail were coming down the hallway hand in hand, and all four of them took the elevator down to the lobby. Frank and Jody and Chuck were already there waiting, and they all left the hotel together. 

They walked to the area where the public tour of the Catacombs had begun. The doorway they had used to enter the place was gated off, of course, but it was dark outside now, and there wasn't anyone around. Dean picked the lock on the gate and they all hurried inside, and then they went down the stairs to another door. Now they were below street level. 

Sam switched on a small flashlight so that Dean could see better. 

"I'm gonna need the thingie," Dean muttered, and Sam went into the bag and handed him a small device. Dean attached the device to the door, and a series of lights flashed, then went out. 

"Yahtzee. Alarm system disabled," Dean said quietly. He handed the electronic device to Sam to put back in the bag, and then he picked the lock for the inside door, also. 

"We're in," Dean told them, rising from his crouched position. He pushed open the door and turned on his flashlight, shining it ahead of him. He started to descend the spiral staircase, followed by Sam and the others. They all had their flashlights, which provided enough illumination to see straight ahead, but that was about it. When they had initially discussed it, Castiel had cautioned against using too much light until they got down to the base of the stairs, and the Winchesters had agreed with that. 

Once they had picked their way carefully down the staircase, they all stood quietly together. Cas was the last one down, and he said, "Let's head towards the area where the Nazi bunker was, through the archway." 

"How do you know that's where it is?" Frank wanted to know. 

"We don't," Cas told him. "But the archway refers to the Empire Of The Dead, which is where Linda told us it was. And Gail said she had one of her intuitions that that was the way we should go." 

"That's good enough for me," Frank said. He knew that Gail wasn't really clairvoyant any more, strictly speaking, but he also knew that her intuitions were never wrong. 

Cas grabbed Gail's hand and he drew her behind him. "Stay close to me," he told her. Both the darkness and the quiet was eerie, and he hadn't forgotten the discussion they'd had about the rats. "Chuck, stick close to Gail. If we see any vermin, Gail can aim her blade at them, and I can attempt to persuade them to leave us alone." 

Sam grinned. Imagine just being able to talk to any animal and get them to do what you wanted. What a concept. He had actually seen Cas do it before, a long time ago, but the idea still amused him. 

"Thanks, Cas," Chuck said shakily. The darkness of the place was getting to him too, and he could hear water gurgling off in the distance, as Tommy had advised they would probably hear. He was sure that there would be rats further down the tunnel, and lots of them. Hell, they probably had rat parties down here, once the tours had ended and the lights were turned out. And Chuck would be a yummy treat for them. But he didn't want to lose it in front of everybody, not if he could help it. Sam and Dean already thought he was a wuss. And it looked like he might finally get laid tonight, if Desiree would actually answer her door when he knocked. And boy, would he be knocking. If he got out of this Tablet mission unscathed, he would be knocking and knocking. All the more motivation to remain unbitten by rats. 

They all headed through the archway and down the corridor, single file, free hands on each others' shoulders. Every now and then, Gail thought she saw movement, and she would drop her hand from Cas's shoulder and reach for her blade. But every time she did that, there was nothing to see. Chuck's nervousness was coming off of him in waves, and it was contagious. 

Suddenly, Chuck gasped loudly, and there was a clatter as he dropped his flashlight. 

"What the hell, Chuck?" Frank exclaimed. He stopped short, and Jody bumped into him. Then Sam and Dean bumped into them. 

"There's something on my shoulder," Chuck said quietly. Oh, God. It was a rat. "I'm gonna lose it here, you guys." 

"Hold on, Chuck," Cas said. He came around Gail very slowly and said, "Everybody, stay still, please. We don't want to scare it. Don't shine your lights directly at it." Cas lifted his own light as high as he dared, and he could see the outline of the rat on Chuck's shoulder. It was a big one. 

"Stay absolutely still, Chuck," Cas instructed him in a quiet, calm voice. 

"I'll try, Cas," Chuck said. He could feel himself shaking, though. He could feel the rat's paws, or feet, or whatever they were, moving on him, and he swore he could feel its whiskers tickling his cheek. He closed his eyes, wincing. Any minute now it was going to sink its sharp teeth into his face, and they were going to have to drag him out of here, kicking and screaming. And then, unless Desiree felt like visiting him in the loony bin, he could forget about his date. 

"Extend your arm outwards, slowly, Chuck," Cas said. He started talking softly to the rat, leaning forward gradually so as not to startle it. At the same time, Chuck started to raise his arm, as Cas had instructed. Cas told the rat it really shouldn't be on Chuck's shoulder. In fact, it shouldn't be on any of the people here. It should leave, and then tell all of its friends to stay away from these people. After a couple of minutes, the rat's nose twitched, and it started to walk down Chuck's outstretched arm. Cas put his hand out and the rat walked onto it. Then Cas brought his hand close to his face, said something else to the rat that no one could hear, and then he bent down to the ground, releasing it. It scurried off down the corridor. 

"That ought to do it," Cas said cheerfully. "No more rats." 

"I could hug you, Cas," Chuck said, weak-kneed with relief. It was a good thing that the lighting was very dim, because he was dangerously on the verge of tears. 

Gail's hand sought out Chuck's, and she squeezed it gently. "Better not; I might get jealous," she said lightly. She could tell how upset he'd been, and she was trying to raise his spirits. "Or, Tommy might," she added, smiling. 

Chuck smiled too, and he squeezed her hand in appreciation. Cas shone his light around the floor until he found Chuck's flashlight, then he returned it to Chuck's hand. 

They proceeded down the corridor until Cas stopped and said, "Here. This is where the tour guide said the Nazi bunker was. Just to the right of this bone art." He shone his flashlight on the wall to reveal skulls and leg bones imbedded in it, forming a concentric pattern. 

"OK, so what do we do now?" Dean said. "The bunker isn't here anymore, Gail." 

"I know that," she said, rolling her eyes. She stepped forward, looking closer at the bones. "But there's something about this spot..." She extended her arm and touched the bones. Yuk. Cas had had a rat on his hand a few minutes ago, and now she was touching centuries-old dead people. She should have packed less clothes, and more hand sanitizer. 

"Look for something different in the bone art," Gail told everyone. "Something that looks like it doesn't exactly belong." 

"'One of these things is not like the other one'," Sam sang, and Gail nodded vigorously. 

"We don't have to touch the stupid things, do we?" Frank said grumpily. 

"No, Frank, just look at them," she said, scanning the bones intently. 

They all stared for a few minutes, then Jody said, "Got it." She pointed to a bone situated high up on the sculpture. "All the leg bones in the pattern are tibias, except for that one. It's a femur." 

"Too bad it's the weekend. Then it could be a Saturday Night Femur," Frank said. They all looked at him. "Oh, come on," he said, shrugging. "At least I kept my rat jokes to myself, earlier." 

Jody shook her head slowly. Such was her husband. 

"How do you know the difference?" Chuck asked her, curious. 

"I was a cop, remember?" Jody replied. Wait; had she just said "was"? She guessed that meant it was official, then. She supposed it only made sense. Once these missions were over, if she hoped to have another child, she'd better devote herself to it full-time, before it was too late. 

"Sam, can you reach up there?" Cas asked him. "You're the tallest one of all of us. Just see if you can move the bone or take it out of the sculpture. There must be a reason for the anomaly." 

Sam came forward and raised his arm to touch the bone. It was so high up that it actually made him stretch, but he was able to touch it. As soon as he put his hand on it, the bone tilted to the right, and they all heard a noise. Cas shone his flashlight in the direction of the sound. 

"It appears to be another passageway," he said, advancing to the crack in the wall that had opened up with the rotation of the bone. He tried to push the door open further, but it wouldn't budge. 

"Dean, Frank," he said, gritting his teeth with effort, "can you help with this, please?" 

Sam and Chuck looked at each other, bemused. "I lift weights, you know," Sam said. "And I lift...heavy library books," Chuck chimed in. Gail smiled. She was happy to see that Chuck was back to normal now, over his fright. 

Cas smiled briefly. He was pushing on the door, with Dean and Frank helping. Eventually, they were able to open the door wide enough to walk in. Cas was the first one through, and he looked down. Oh. So that explained it. There were three bodies on the floor; that was why he had not been able to easily open the door. The sight troubled him. These bodies were fresh. He withdrew his blade from his blazer pocket and looked over his shoulder, telling Dean about the discovery in a quiet voice. Dean told Frank, and Frank passed it down the line. Draw your weapons and proceed carefully. 

This passageway was narrower, but it was also brighter. There was a light source further down the corridor, and as the group crept forward, the light became brighter. Cas turned off his flashlight and gestured for Dean to gesture to the others to do the same, putting a finger to his lips. He could hear voices, now. 

"Stay here," he said softly in Dean's ear. "Tell everyone to be prepared to make a quick exit." 

Cas edged down the passageway as Dean relayed the message to the rest of the group. Cas stopped short of the doorway at the end of the hall and pressed himself against the wall, listening. 

"He couldn't translate it, either," a man's voice said. 

"So you killed him?" a second male said. 

"I had to," the first man replied. "I caught him taking a picture of the Tablet with his cell phone." 

That got Castiel's attention. If he'd been listening before, now he was listening intently. 

"Well, you can't keep killing everyone who's unable to translate the damn thing," the second man berated the first one. "The bodies are starting to pile up, and we can't afford any scrutiny right now. Maybe you shouldn't have messed with that Tablet in the first place." 

"Are you kidding?" the first man said. "When I found it in the hidden niche here, I could tell that it was an object of great power and significance. Now, if we could only figure out what the writings on it mean!" 

"I'd like to find that out as well, but not at the expense of our whole organization," the second man said sternly. "I'm holding a recruitment meeting in a couple of days, and I want all of you to bring a few potential members. We'll try to get a couple of scholars, or at least, people with some higher IQs. We've got a lot of brawn; now I want some brains. I'll keep that Tablet locked up in the safe in my office at the clubhouse, and we'll see if we can get any of the new members to help identify the markings on it. But, no more killing. Now get rid of the bodies and then keep your nose clean until the meeting. If you have to kill someone, buy a video game, or something. But don't you worry, there will be lots of opportunities for violence once we get a few more members and start Operation White Power." 

Then, unbelievably, both men exclaimed, "Heil!" 

Cas's blood ran cold. He popped back to the group and grabbed Sam and Dean. "Back to the hotel, immediately," he told Gail and Chuck. She grabbed her brother by the arm, Chuck seized Jody, and the Angels winked the humans out of there before they were discovered. 

Cas was pacing back and forth in Sam and Dean's room. He'd brought them directly here from the catacombs so that they could all brainstorm. He had winked them to a dark corner outside the hotel, much as he and Gail used to wink in and out of the blind spot outside the casino in Vancouver. Then they had merely walked through the lobby and upstairs, into the Winchesters' room. 

"'Operation White Power'?" Sam said. "Opportunities for violence? That doesn't sound too good." 

"I thought it was Cas who had the title of Captain Obvious," Frank quipped. 

"Those guys must belong to Les Rebelles Blanc," Gail remarked with a frown. 

"Apparently, you were right," Cas told her. "We're just a little late. They obviously found the Tablet there, and now they've moved it to their headquarters. We'll have to find out where that is." 

"Time to go undercover," Dean said matter-of-factly. Then his lips twitched. "I hope they don't expect us to shave our heads, though. I don't want to do that, and I know Sammy doesn't want to do it." 

"Frank could do it," Jody chipped in. "I think he'd look good bald, and he's thinning on top, anyway." 

"How are we going to find out where their group meets?" Chuck asked. 

Cas frowned. "I think I'll have a talk with the tour guide. He mentioned that group when we were taking the tour. In fact, I wonder if he might know a bit more about them than he was letting on. Those men were there after hours, and it seemed like they were pretty comfortable there." 

"We were there after hours too, Cas," Jody pointed out. 

"No, I think he's on to something, Jodes," Sam mused. "The whole thing is just too fishy. If you can get any info from him about where those guys might hang out, Dean and I can arrange to meet some of them. Then we'll go from there." 

"Why go to all that trouble?" Frank asked irritably. He was pissed off at the thought of having to cozy up to white supremacists. "Why can't we just break into their headquarters? Or, have Cas zap us in?" 

"Those are very logical questions, Frank," Castiel said, dipping his head in acknowledgement. "But until we know exactly what we're dealing with, I think it's best that we do it this way. These kinds of groups are violent, and frequently very heavily armed. If we were a group of Angels only, I might suggest your approach. But I can't expose humans to that kind of risk." 

"Us humans appreciate that," Dean said, grinning. "And don't worry, Sam and I are frequently heavily armed, too." 

But Sam was shaking his head. "We're not going to just be able to go in there packing, Dean. Not until they can trust us, anyway." 

Gail was looking at Cas. "I don't like it," she said to him. "It's too dangerous. I think it should just be you and me." 

Dean raised an eyebrow to her. "Hello, have we met?" He smiled at Sam. "She thinks it's too dangerous for us. Isn't she cute?" 

Sam smiled, too. "Yeah, she is," he said to Dean. Then he looked at her. "I think we can handle it, Gail. But it's sweet of you to worry." He looked back at Dean. "I think she and Cas have already been married too long. We'll just call her Mrs. Worrywart." 

Gail made a face. "Sorry, guys. I guess you think I'm being pretty stupid. I just don't want anything to happen to anybody." 

Cas took her hand, looking warmly at her. He loved hearing Sam refer to her as his wife, and he loved the fact that she worried about their friends the same way he did. It made him feel even closer to her. But Sam and Dean could handle themselves, and Cas would be around to make sure they were OK. 

"I guess there's nothing else we can do tonight," he told the group. "Get some rest, and we'll talk again in the morning." 

Chuck was ecstatic. Nazis were repugnant, but he could hug them right now. "OK, see you in the morning, then," he said, and he strode out of the room before anyone could ask him where he was going. 

The others exchanged curious glances. "What's with him?" Frank asked. 

Dean shrugged. "Beats me. Chuck's always been a little - " 

"Left of centre," Sam finished for him. 

"I was gonna say weird," Dean said, smirking. "I guess he's not a douche any more, but he's just...I dunno. He's just...Chuck." 

"What do you mean, Dean? Why do you say he's weird?" Gail said sharply. 

He looked at her. "Oh yeah, I forgot. He's your buddy." 

"Yes, he is, Dean," she retorted. "He's been very good to me and Cas. I know you and Sam have had a thing with him about those books, but that was a long time ago, now. And he's here with us, fighting the good fight, isn't he? He was really brave down there in the Catacombs. If I'd had a rat that big on my shoulder, I would have freaked out and run off screaming. I think you guys should be nicer to Chuck." 

Dean rolled his eyes. She had sure changed her tune, over the past couple of years. 

Jody yawned. "Let's go, Frank," she said to her husband. "I could use a good night's sleep." They stood and said their goodbyes, and then they left the room. 

"I guess we'll say goodnight too, then," Cas said. He rose to his feet, taking Gail's hand and bringing her with him. He was already thinking about the two of them in their bed, under the sheets, making love. She smiled at him as if she was reading his mind. They were so close now that she probably was. 

"You're not going anywhere," Dean said cheerfully. 

Gail looked at him. "What do you mean?" 

"Sammy and I have decided: You two know something that we don't know, and you're gonna tell us what it is," Dean said. 

The Angels exchanged glances. They definitely knew things that the Winchesters didn't know, and they definitely had their reasons for keeping quiet about those things. 

"I imagine we know quite a few things that the two of you don't know," Cas said lightly. "We're very intelligent." 

Gail's lips twitched. "And we're also on our honeymoon," she said to the brothers. "So, unless you want me to tell you about the weird Angel stuff we do together, we've got nothing to say." 

She and Cas started moving towards the door, but Sam stood in front of them, blocking the exit. "I don't think so," he said. 

Cas looked up at him. They had to be kidding with this. "So you're really going to attempt to prevent us from leaving?" he said with a thin smile. 

"Yep," Sam said, crossing his arms. 

Gail was smiling. She looked at Cas and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Well, we'll just wink out of here, then," she said to the brothers. 

"Not gonna happen," Dean told her. He went to the window and pulled back the curtain, revealing the sigil he'd painted on the window when he and Sam had gotten back from Jim Morrison's grave. 

"You've got to be kidding," Gail said to him. 

Dean shrugged. "Sorry, but I told you you're not leaving here until we get some answers." 

Cas looked at him disbelievingly. "You can attempt to keep us here if you like, but we have nothing to talk about, Dean." 

"Fine. Then I guess we'll all be here for a while," Sam said affably. He grabbed a chair and placed it by the door, and then he sat in it, crossing his arms again. 

The Angels looked at their human friends, then at each other. What were they supposed to do here? If Sam and Dean were their enemies, they could put up a fight to escape, but... 

"So you're telling me that if I tried to leave right now, you would physically restrain me?" Gail asked Sam. 

He grinned. "We all love you, Gail, but, yeah. I would. And that wouldn't be all that hard to do right now. I'm way bigger than you are, and you're powerless." 

"You realize, of course, that you would have to deal with me if you tried that," Cas said to Sam. He wasn't sure how he should feel about this whole thing. Part of him was amused. Sam and Dean were smiling, and they were talking in a pleasant tone. But he had the sinking feeling that they were being quite serious. What was he supposed to do now? Fight them? If Gail tried to leave and Sam were to restrain her, then what? Cas knew that Sam would sooner die than to hurt Gail, but if Sam grabbed her and she struggled, Cas knew that he would lose it. Then he would end up hurting Sam, and then Dean, too, when he came to Sam's defense. 

He looked at Gail and sighed. "I guess we don't have a choice," he said to her. "We'll have to tell them." 

She looked doubtful. Tell them? Tell them what? Which of their secrets was he thinking of giving to the Winchesters? Or was he going to make something up? 

Cas looked evenly at Dean. "Bobby isn't God," he said tersely. 

Of all the things that Dean thought Cas might say, that particular thing would never have occurred to him in a million years. But he knew Cas, and he knew that Cas was telling the truth. 

"What do you mean, he's not God?" Dean said sharply. "Since when is he not God?" 

"I don't know exactly when he resigned," Cas told him, "but it's been a while now, apparently. He didn't want to say anything to anyone, not with Lucifer out there. If Satan were to find out, there would be nothing to stop him from laying waste to us all. The only deterrent, the only thing standing in his way that I can see, is the fear of the power of God." 

Sam's mind was reeling. He began to pepper Cas with questions. If Bobby wasn't God, who was? What were they supposed to do about it? Couldn't Bobby just temporarily re-take the reins until they took care of Lucifer? And why would Bobby have just bailed on them during this crucial time? 

Cas was frowning. "You'll have to ask Bobby, Sam. I asked him many of the same questions, but I didn't get any satisfactory answers. Maybe he'll confide in the two of you. In any event, there's nothing we can do about it now, except to keep it a secret." 

"Crowley knows," Gail piped up. "We haven't said anything, of course. But he knows, anyway." 

"That's another reason I don't think Crowley betrayed us," Castiel said thoughtfully. "He knows that Bobby is no longer God, but he obviously hasn't shared that information with Lucifer." 

But Crowley had, of course, though Castiel had no way of knowing that. Why, then, had Lucifer not made his move? 

It was simple, really. Though Lucifer had prodigious powers, he was unable to enter the Kingdom of Heaven without a key. And that was what he really, truly wanted to do. God had created a loophole. In the unlikely event that Lucifer should somehow get free from his cage, God had set it up so that the Devil would still need the cooperation of one of the seven designated Angels in order to re-enter the place from which he had been evicted at the time of Creation. That was why Lucifer had lobbied so hard for Castiel to take one of his deals. Once they entered into an agreement with each other whereupon Castiel agreed to fall on his knees in front of Lucifer, the Devil would be free to enter Heaven once again. Actually, if any one of the seven designates who were foretold in Revelation were to enter into such a covenant with Lucifer, Heaven would be opened up to him, and he could march right in and kick Bobby Singer the hell out. Now that Lucifer knew that Bobby couldn't put up a fight, it should be a piece of cake. But he needed one of the Angels to hop on board, first. He'd wanted it to be Castiel, just because that particular Brother's betrayal of Heaven and their Father would be the sweetest, most satisfying of all. He'd even take little Gail, in a pinch. But it seemed like neither one of them was going to play ball. 

Fine, then. There were five others. Well, four, actually. Lucifer had killed Linda, so she was unavailable to him now. That left Becky, Chuck, Ethan, and Kevin. Surely one of them would succumb. This could work out better, actually. The younger Angels would likely be naive and gullible; just the sort of people he could work with. And, Chuck? Not so long ago, he had been a denizen of Hell, and he had been a sleazy son of a bitch. In short, Lucifer's type of guy. 

Lucifer sat down in one of the armchairs in the library of the mansion. He had returned there after a suitable period of time, and when Paul hadn't come back, Lucifer had done the math and come up with the correct scenario. He thought now about the remaining four Angels, and what their Fondest Desires might be. In a rare moment of organization, he made notes. He even made notes on the humans; like his Father, he figured it couldn't hurt to have a few contingencies. If he couldn't get in the front door, perhaps he could get in through a window. 

Then, when he was done, he called for Mark. 

"Go to the bunker," Lucifer instructed him, "and don't come back until you have one or more of these Angels." He gave Mark the names. 

"How am I supposed to do that?" Mark asked him. "With the extra protections they put on, I can't even get near the place." 

Lucifer glared at his assistant. "You're supposed to be powerful, aren't you? And smart. At least, I always thought so. Figure it out." 

That was easy for him to say, Mark thought. Must be nice to be able to just sit there and give out orders, asking for the impossible to be done. Mark would really like to try that, sometime. But he would never dare to say anything like that out loud, of course. 

"Master," Mark said. He bowed his head, then vanished. 

Barry and Tommy were standing in the kitchen of the bunker, waiting for Robbie. 

"Come on!" Tommy called down the corridor. "Let's go! We're going to be late!" 

Robbie came running down the hall. "Sorry," he said breathlessly. "I'm ready, now." 

They walked into the garage and got into the car. Dean had advised that they could take any car they wanted out of the garage, except for his Impala, of course. Barry pressed the remote, and the garage door slowly started to open. 

"Crap! I forgot to check the stove," Barry said. 

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it's fine, hon." 

Barry looked at him. "Do you know that for a fact?" 

Tommy made a sound of annoyance. "No. But any time we leave anywhere, you always have to check at least one appliance. I think you have OCD." 

"Well, I'm sorry, but I have to check," Barry insisted. "I'll just be a second." 

Tommy heaved a sigh as Barry went back inside the bunker. He loved Barry a lot, but his boyfriend could be annoying at times. Then again, Tommy was sure he must have some habits that drove Barry nuts, too. But when you really loved somebody, you had to take the bad with the good. 

Robbie was standing beside the car, waiting for Barry to come back, when he looked outside. He squinted. "Dad?" he said in a low voice. He edged towards the open garage door. That was his Dad out there! What was he doing here? Had he come here to take Robbie back? But he was supposedly evil now, wasn't he? 

Mark saw Robbie moving towards the open garage door, and he smiled. Sometimes opportunity did come knocking. 

"Hi, Son," he called out. "I've missed you. Come, give your Dad a hug." He crouched down and opened his arms wide. 

Robbie hesitated a moment, but then he ran out of the open garage door, and away from the bunker's seal of protection. 

Tommy ran after the child, but it was too late. Mark scooped Robbie into his arms and stood, facing Tommy. 

"Tell Bobby we've got the boy," Mark said to Tommy. "Have him meet us here in half an hour, to discuss terms." 

"You can't take him," Tommy said, panicked. My God. What was he going to tell Frank and Jody? He took a couple of steps forward, but as soon as he exited the garage, Mark raised one arm and knocked Tommy off his feet. 

"I assure you, I can," Mark told him. "I'm his father." Robbie began to squirm in his arms, and Mark tightened his grip on the boy, making Robbie cry out in pain. 

"Half an hour," Mark repeated, and he and Robbie vanished. 

As Lucifer waited for Mark to return, he sat having a drink in the library. He had an Atlas on his lap, and he was leafing through it, wondering where he should strike next. 

"I'm feeling very Armageddon-y today," he said aloud. His hand moved idly over the world maps. Where should he begin? If only he knew where the Angels were. Would he ever love to start there. 

But, no matter. The world was his oyster, or it soon would be. 

"Maybe I'll start in Europe," he said to himself. And then, he began to laugh. 

\- END OF BOOK 17. -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this book in my series, and would appreciate any comments and/or kudos.


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